Smile
by Repeated Love Song
Summary: Naruto would have never guessed that an innocent dare to make the grim Sasuke Uchiha smile would lead to a struggle to keep him doing so. NaruSasu AU college years.
1. Crack a Grin

I'm not really sure for the second genre on this, so it's a mix between Humor/Angst.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own anyone in Naruto. I don't own Naruto. I don't own Sasuke. And I never will.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, underage drinking, etc.

_Also, if you don't like my story, don't read it. Intelligent flames are acceptable if you must. If you like my story, __review__, and do that often. That's what keeps me motivated and from going completely insane._

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE: CRACK A GRIN**

Naruto sat in his old, crappy desk, laying back and not paying any attention to Professor Hatake's rambling. He preferred doodling as an alternative. It was much more entertaining than whatever his professor was saying, which was something relating to history or something else he did not care about equally. He began to draw a picture of himself in his board shorts at the beach, with Sakura standing beside him in a revealing bathing suit, admiring his body. Naruto loved himself for his mad stick-figure drawing skills. All he had to do was draw circles and straight lines. It was indeed a difficult task that he had mastered.

His desk creaked loudly, being older than the rest, ranking number one in squalor. Curses and other inappropriate things that he would rather not mention were written all over it. He hated the desk, so he drew a picture of it burning. It resembled some deranged rectangle or a newly invented shape, so he erased it. Professor Hatake's nonsensical blabbering (in Naruto's mind, at least, anything that was not ramen, chicks, and surfing was nonsense) increased in volume, leaving Naruto exasperated and wishing that his professor would shut the hell up. So, he drew his professor in a box, a sound proof one, to be exact. He reminded him of a mime….

Naruto-!" The silver-haired man shouted at him, very close to a delicate ear that belonged to the said boy. He looked up and smiled sheepishly, noticing that Professor Hatake was standing before him with a somewhat ominous meter stick in hand. Naruto was uncertain whether beating one's students with a stick was illegal when they were adults. Perhaps he should have paid more attention.

"I'm right here, you don't have to yell, dammit," Naruto said to his instructor with a quick roll of his cerulean eyes. All he wanted was to leave campus so that he could party, surf, and spend time with his girlfriend.

A few of his lower-on-the-social-ladder classmates snickered at how he cursed in their professor's face, but it was not as if he even cared. Professor Hatake was an easygoing teacher who was on friendly terms with his students; once they fulfilled the basic requirements, he let them do whatever the hell they wanted to do, unless it involved campus security or the removal of clothing. As long as no one disturbed him and he could read his perverted books, he remained indifferent to what was occurring in his surroundings.

"Can you just pay attention for once, Naruto? Once you achieve that, then you can draw pictures of me in a box and you getting mobbed by pink-haired girls. So, pay attention or else I will beat you with a stick," Professor Hatake advised, not sounding as sane as Naruto would have hoped. He slid down into his seat, still grinning like an idiot. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that his girlfriend, Sakura Haruno, was blushing due to the pink-haired girl remark.

Maybe she should not have dyed her naturally blonde hair pink in the eighth grade. But right now, Naruto was not concerned with whatever bizarre hair color his girlfriend had, but more so whether or not he was going escape class without any welts.

"Isn't that like, um, illegal or something?" Naruto asked his professor uncertainly, with a voice that was unbearably appealing. Some of the girls looked at the tall, lean, surfer longingly. Professor Hatake dull, sleepy eyes that screamed boredom bore directly into Naruto's bright, blue eyes.

"I don't care if it's illegal, I'll do it. It's not like this job pays much anyway," he commented drearily, his silver hair flopping over his face in an attractive manner that made all the female ass-kissers swoon.

Naruto grimaced, wondering whether his professor was serious. Professor Hatake leaned on the meter stick, a little too forcefully, and it snapped into three pieces. One of the shorter ends spiraled away from him as he regained his balance and hurdled towards Naruto. He stared, startled, and ducked quickly, his nose almost slamming into the word 'whore' on his desk. He turned around when he heard a sharp snap and a yelp. The fragment of the meter stick struck his classmate behind him in the face, causing him to panic and fall forward over his own desk. Naruto hopped out of his seat hastily. His classmate's weight made his own desk tip forward, over one of the steps of the lecture-hall styled classroom, and onto Naruto's empty desk. The pressure was too much for the ol' piece of crap to handle; it collapsed into a pile of crap with his unfortunate classmate on top. Naruto stood there, gawking, as the freshman class broke out in hysterics.

"Um, are you okay?" Naruto asked, unable to keep himself from snickering. The boy just groaned in response and seemed like he needed a hospital. Their professor sensed this, pulled the boy up, and dragged him toward the exit.

"Come on, let's get you to the infirmary or wherever." As they departed the classroom, the boy continued to groan, due to his unorthodox professor dragging him carelessly. Professor Hatake propped him up and carried him like he was a one-hundred and thirty pound baby. The class snickered lightly at the scene.

Once they left, everyone erupted into laughter and chatter. Naruto was laughing along with everyone else. One kid started to choke on air, but nobody noticed, or cared. Naruto's eyes skimmed over someone in the back of the room who was not laughing at all. He was pale and thin, with raven hair that was long in the front and spiked up in the back, resembling a duck's butt.

Naruto stopped laughing and stared at him. He wore a dark expression, as if he was scowling at everyone for existing. He did not want to be there, that was quite obvious. His eyes were pitch black and narrow, contrasting greatly against his white face. He remained still and glowered, never showing a hint of a smile or a grin, when everyone surrounding him was pissing their pants from laughter. When Naruto thought about it, he had never seen the boy smile any time he happened to glance at him. He found that somewhat incredulous. If he was so dark and intimidating, why was he not enjoying another's pain like a normal sadist?

When Professor Hatake returned, he dismissed the class offhandedly, and everyone stampeded towards the exit like a herd of cattle. Naruto managed to squeeze through the crowd and safely make his way to his friends, the most eminent and admired (and not to mention attractive) students on campus.

"Hey, Naruto!" His girlfriend waved at him exuberantly and her long, pink hair swayed with her exaggerated motion. He rushed over to her and greeted her with a chaste kiss on her pink lips, then wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I love the new jeans," he teased and stretched out a piece of her ultra low-rise pants. It snapped back, hit her skin, and she squealed , then slapped his hand away. "They're real tight," he grinned at her foxily.

"Shut up and stop flirting already," she said, her face returning to its normal color. She removed her designer sunglasses from her hair and brushed it back with her hand.

"I heard Professor Hatake's class was really entertaining today," said a tall, gorgeous blonde in a tight, black miniskirt and an equally tight tube top. Ino Yamanaka leaned against the wall, showing off her endlessly long legs and gleaming, long pony tail. Males gawked at her as they strolled by and she smirked. Ino was infamous for the revealing clothing which she wore and her promiscuous behavior.

"Ino, stop dressing like a whore. You're driving all the guys into walls by strutting around in that miniskirt," Naruto said with good humor. Her lips widened into a smirk and pinched his cheek.

"You know you like it," she teased, receiving a nasty look from Sakura. She grasped Naruto possessively and he just smiled at her, wondering if Sakura was serious. She should know better, they had been dating for two years, and Ino was only joking.

"That's my boyfriend you're plucking at, slut," she spat and latched onto his arm. Ino made a face at her, and then both girls started to giggle. Neji Hyuuga and Gaara Sabakuno approached the group, having recently been released from their previous class. Due to their reserved demeanors, they merely blinked at the two girls, wondering why they were laughing.

"Hey Naruto," Neji said, greeting him, not bothering to say anything to the girls since they seemed preoccupied. Somewhere in between their whispering and giggling, they had snatched a hold of the innocent bystander and friend, Gaara, and dragged him in away. Naruto and Neji noticed, but said nothing because they did not care much.

"Anything interesting happen?" Neji asked. He was tall and thin, with long, chocolate brown hair that was unusual in today's time. Because he came from an established family, he always dressed in expensive, tasteful clothing, preferring to wear neutral colors which matched his eyes. Their color was strange, a creamy, off-white, if possible, which made his pupils difficult to discern, especially in the light. Most of the female population swooned over Neji's mysterious and captivating eyes alone, but he was far too refined to ever do the same to them.

"Well, tomorrow I have no place to sit since my crappy desk got crushed and my perverted professor almost beat me with a stick. How about you?" Naruto said casually, wearing a toothy grin.

Neji merely looked at him for a moment. His serious face formed into a grin and he chuckled lightly. "I wish I was in your class. Professor Hatake seems interesting."

"You think having a pervert for a professor is interesting? Don't tell me you're one too…" he said warily, his blue eyes widening. Neji punched his arm and grinned at one of his best friends.

"Fine, I won't tell you," he joked.

Sakura and Ino returned from talking with (more like harassing) Gaara. The redhead looked at them with his green eyes, wondering what he had missed

"I'll tell you later when we go surfing," Naruto said reassuringly. Everyone either had no classes for the rest of the day or one in the late afternoon, so they decided to have lunch together. Naruto had been walking across the expansive courtyard with his friends when he saw a flash of black hair and pale skin. He recognized that it was the person he had noticed in class.

Naruto wondered why he had never seen him smile. Maybe his life was screwed up, maybe Naruto had no idea. With his lustrous dark hair that framed his face, his aloof gaze and his enticing black eyes, Naruto had to admit that he was extremely attractive. Everyone had always acknowledged Naruto as the best looking male on campus, but had they failed to notice him? If that kid smiled once in a while and spoke to those around him, Naruto was certain that he would become accepted instantly.

The dark-haired kid turned towards Naruto, having taken notice of his blatant stare. Naruto grinned widely and waved at him. He had not intended to stare so rudely, but it was difficult when musing on how the hell someone is capable of having a smiling disorder. Even evil people smile sometimes, Naruto thought.

The guy just looked at him for a second, somewhat surprised that someone like Naruto would be casually waving at someone like him. His eyes narrowed into a glower, his lips unsmiling, and he walked in the opposite direction. Naruto blinked his cerulean eyes, stunned. That was the most vicious and deadly glare he had ever seen, and it was directed at him.

"Why are you looking at him?" Naruto heard Gaara's soothing voice sound. He turned around and looked at his friend innocently.

"I saw that guy earlier, and I noticed I've never seen him smile, once," Naruto stated, wondering if his friends had any insight on the subject. He still could not wrap his mind around the fact that that person refused to smile. Though Naruto was an orphan, suffering from loneliness and struggling on his own throughout the earlier years of his life, there was rarely a time in which he was not grinning.

"Why is it your problem, Naruto? You're way too curious about everything," Sakura said casually as she walked beside her best friend. She popped a piece of gum into her mouth and started chomping away, along with Ino. Formerly rivals, the girls became competitive and attempted to blow a larger bubble than the other. Naruto decided that it would be best not to disturb their bubble-blowing contest.

"He's Sasuke Uchiha," Neji said simply and continued to stride along.

Gaara and Naruto exchanged glances, each clearly wondering how he had attained that knowledge. Naruto started to list the many possibilities in his head. Neji and Naruto had been good friends since middle school, and Neji had never said a word concerning Sasuke, so he considered that Sasuke and Neji could have become acquainted before that.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know that," Gaara said coolly.

Ever since he had moved to Konoha City about halfway through freshman year in high school, he had been part of Naruto's group of friends. One was never without the others for long, so they resembled a family more than they did a group of friends. That was all that Gaara had known in this city. Despite the years that had passed, Gaara had not bothered to turn many of his other acquaintances into full-fledged friends, whereas Naruto had a broad circle of friends outside of their clique.

"Graduated with an outstanding GPA, antisocial, an overall perfectionist, though he seems incapable of smiling," Neji said, almost smirking, but it faltered. His expression grew serious and he laughed weakly, uncharacteristic of him. "We were friends in elementary school, you know." He said that as if it explained everything. Naruto nodded as if understanding and Gaara raised his eyebrows.

"Oh," Naruto said simply.

"Where are Sakura and Ino?" Gaara asked, looking around for the two. Naruto and Gaara looked at each other. Then they blinked at each other. Then they blinked again. Then they repeated that a few more times. None of them had seen the girls leave.

"Idiots." Neji's creamy eyes stared them down. "They blew such large bubbles that they popped on their faces and they ran to the bathrooms laughing and screaming about their hair," he explained in a monotonic voice, as if they should have automatically known this. So Gaara and Naruto did they only thing that they could. They blinked at Neji. He looked at their innocent (though Gaara could hardly be called innocent) faces and smirked slightly.

"Alright, well, let's get going. Sakura and Ino will catch up," Naruto said, swinging the keys of his orange Pontiac Firebird. Naruto entered the car which he absolutely loved. He turned on the engine and the car let out a delightful rumble, then he slammed on the gas and exiting the parking lot.

"Eventually," he murmured as he sped down the street like he was insane. It was fast, thrilling, and he could not get enough of it. He grinned and looked into his rear view mirror, where he saw his friends following him closely.

Neji was right behind him in his silver Mercedes SL 500, speedily cruising by quickly yet elegantly, evading slower cars. Gaara weaved through traffic in his red Viper SRT-10 with tinted windows, which made it look like Gaara was driving some sort of a badass demon car. A large, bright pink dot approached from the far distance, undoubtedly Sakura and Ino in their Corvette Z06 coupe. He grinned foxily and continued to cruise at high speeds.

Naruto heard a loud noise and looked to his left. A black Nissan 300zx seemed as if it wanted to enter his lane. He grinned and pressed on the gas, sending his car speeding ahead. The black car remained beside his own, still attempting to pass him. Naruto wondered who was driving the car and saw a vague, yet unmistakable outline of a person.

He pressed a button that opened the window next to him.

"Hey! It's Sasuke, right?" He shouted, pestering him until he would open his window.

Sasuke glared when the horrendously bright orange car beside him starting making extremely obnoxious noises. He looked out the window and realized that it was not the car that was screaming. It was that blond surfer, Uzumaki, leaning out of his window, screaming his name, and also not paying attention to the road. Sasuke disliked Naruto and his kind of people in general, but he had never known them to be insane.

"Sasuke! That's your name, right? Come on out, Uchiha!" The blond guy kept on saying over and over again, trying to pester him into rolling down his window. He must have an incredibly loud voice if Sasuke could hear him through the noise of their cars. At this moment, though, the only thing that Sasuke was wondering was how the hell that guy found out his name and what he could possibly want from him.

He rolled down the window so that Naruto could clearly see him give him the finger. He then sped ahead and cut Naruto off, now driving in front of him. Naruto growled, his brow furrowed, and his lower lip stuck in a slight pout. His so-called solution was tailgating Sasuke's car.

_Goddamn, I just want to be friendly and get the guy to smile. Maybe he is smiling now though, after flipping me the fucking finger and winning his so-called victory. Hey, but I made him smile, didn't I? _Naruto halted grimacing, thinking that he accomplished some good. Even though he was satisfied now, Naruto was still tailgating Sasuke for the hell of it. Pissing off people who looked like they were about to kill you was oddly entertaining and thrilling.

He heard a loud engine, turned from his fun, and saw Neji's Mercedes beside him, since upcoming traffic had forced them to slow down. Neji rolled down his window and his blank eyes stared at his best friend. He wondered why Naruto was bothering Sasuke. Even though he had matured significantly since they first met, Naruto often behaved childishly. He leaned over and shouted to Naruto.

"What are you doing? Stop annoying the hell out of Sasuke," Neji demanded reproachfully.

"Why? Come on, Nej!" He whined, pouting. "I made Sasuke smile." His lips formed into his trademark fox-like grin. Neji stared at him disbelievingly as they slowly advanced through the traffic. The chances of Sasuke smiling for Naruto were very slim. He brushed his long, loose brown hair away from his face and returned to his conversation.

"No offense, Naruto, but I can just about bet that you will never make him smile," Neji stated nonchalantly, though there was a taunting undertone to his voice.

"Oh yeah? I bet I can. What do I win when I do?" Naruto said arrogantly, gripping the leather of his steering wheel with determination. Neji removed his phone from his pocket and smirked slightly. _If he could get him to smile, he means. I was friends with Sasuke once, and I believe I should know. Who knows? Maybe he'll be the person to crack him. _He smiled lightly as he called Ino.

"Oh, we'll think of something great."

* * *

Naruto licked the sides of his vanilla cone, and once that was done he started to eat from the top down. Gaara stared at Naruto with slight interest, as he had eaten three other ice cream cones before this, and he always seemed to eat them in the same, precise way. It was very, oddly, interesting to watch. Neji was eating his chocolate ice cream, looking at Gaara looking at Naruto, and Ino and Sakura were watching all of them and sharing their vanilla and strawberry cones with each other. Neji was distracted, thinking about the foolish bet he made with Naruto about Sasuke. He supposed it was for laughs, but it did not feel right to be forcing an obnoxious, yet still amiable, blond onto Sasuke. He had enough problems to begin with, even if it had been all those years ago.

Naruto finished off the last of his ice cream and ate the cone in one bite. Ino and Sakura 'eww-ed' and started to laugh at him. They all halted their laugher when Naruto pointed something out on Neji's face.

"Hey, Nej, why is there ice cream all over your face? It totally kills the suave rich-boy look you're going for," Naruto laughed at him. Neji blinked while Gaara handed him a napkin and smirked.

"I believe you will need this," the red-head said, throwing it into Neji's hands. He smiled appreciatively, and cleaned his face as the others laughed.

Naruto heard the roar of an engine and he immediately thought of Sasuke's car. He turned around and discovered that he was right to think of it. Sasuke's 300zx was storming through the traffic impatiently, causing people to beep their horns and curse at him. Naruto had to admit, Sasuke was kind of cool.

"Hey, there's that Uchiha-bastard!" Naruto exclaimed, smiling.

Sakura smiled, rolled her eyes, and then leaned back stretching out. She yawned a bit then mischievously smiled at her boyfriend.

"Go get 'em, fox," she said in a bored voice, but she was obviously acting. Sakura called Naruto that, due to his trademark foxy grin. He waved goodbye to his friends and gave Sakura a deep kiss before hopping into his orange car. Once he was on the road, he shifted quickly into a higher gear, his car standing out vibrantly from all the others. It was no wonder why Sakura had picked that car out for him when helping him decide which car to purchase. It was not only because orange was his favorite color, but it resembled him in some ways.

Naruto followed Sasuke's car carefully down the freeway, attempting to be inconspicuous, but it was slightly difficult with a car that would probably glow in the dark. He had drive well above the speed limit in order to keep the 300zx in his line of sight, not that he minded much. He was not turning out to be as unnoticeable as he had hoped. Sasuke exited sharply, having probably detected Naruto, in an attempt of losing him, though not in a challenging, let's-have-a-street-race-now-dammit fashion. Naruto had to cut across the freeway in no more than a couple of seconds to make the exit.

Naruto blinked his large blue eyes, surprised, and parked his car. Sasuke lived in the college dormitory, which he found odd. Though he also lived there, he had never noticed Sasuke's existence. Hardly anyone lived in the dormitories of Konoha College, since many would rather live in their luxurious homes (much like his own friends), or had an apartment nearby. Students strictly from the city in which they lived attended the community college; why they had dorms in the first place was beyond him. Only the students who had no family, were poor, or had an extremely strained relationship with their family lived in the dorms. Naruto lived there for the first two reasons.

It was difficult for him to grow up alone, living at the orphanage and foster homes. Once he became good friends with Neji in high school, he was allowed to stay with his family until college. He began working as soon as he was of age to save for the future, though financial aid helped him with expenses significantly, and to be able to buy himself decent things.

He stepped out from behind the automatic doors and pressed the button connected to his keys to lock it. Sasuke had been long gone, but Naruto knew whether many of the rooms were inhabited or deserted.

After ten minutes, he finally found what he supposed to Sasuke's dorm. It was on the second level, like his dorm, except on the other end of the long hallway. What luck for Sasuke. Naruto knocked a few times but nobody came to the door, so he assumed that Sasuke did not want any company. Naruto leaned against the wall across from the door, closed his eyes, and waited. Nothing happened, and due to an extremely short patience, Naruto murmured a few curses under his breath and winged it. He kicked the door open and stormed right in. It was not as if Sasuke was going to come at him with a knife. How right Naruto was. He came at him with a completely different object.

"Go away," Sasuke threatened darkly as he straddled Naruto. After he had tackled Naruto to the ground, he placed the sharp edge of a broken glass bottle to his neck. Naruto looked at Sasuke like he was insane, and then glanced down at the bottle touching his throat. He was almost certain that Sasuke was going to kill him, since his movement was restricted by the bottle that was pressed lightly against his neck. It did not seem like Sasuke was would budge any time soon, either. So, Naruto just gave him a very pathetic, wide-eyed look accompanied by a noise sounding much like a puppy dog cry.

Sasuke looked at him strangely and stood up.

"Why are you here?" He demanded in a cold voice. Naruto felt around his neck and was relieved that he had only received a scratch or two, then scrambled to his feet and stood before Sasuke. Naruto was taller than him, so that kind of killed his intimidating act. "Really…" He started, glowering up at the blond. "…you've never talked to me before, and you're one of them. Why come out of nowhere and start fuckin' waving suddenly? Tell me why you're here, freak stalker, or I'll be forced to hold that bottle against your neck again." He said it so nonchalantly it was as if he used that sentence in everyday life. Naruto blinked his blue eyes. He was somewhat surprised that Sasuke would say that to someone who was bigger, stronger, and far more well-liked than he.

"Hey, can't I just get to know a guy?" Naruto smiled in a sort of don't-hurt-me way, even though he could most likely pound the daylights out of Sasuke pretty damn well, but did not want to fight.

"Leave."

"Come on-."

"Leave."

"I just want-."

"Get packing…"

"Please-?"

"Stalker."

"Hey, I'm not-."

"Bastard-Stalker."

"It's for a bet, alright? Happy, you damn bastard?" Naruto finally said, frustrated with all the get-out-now-or-die talk. He was uncertain if the ever-so evil looking Sasuke would take that as a serious answer, since he probably did not trust people like Naruto, and of course there was the fact that he approached him quite randomly. For all Sasuke could have guessed, this could an attempt to humiliate him somehow. Naruto was popular, otherwise known as a synonym for the word evil.

"Are you serious?" Sasuke hissed, his black eyes narrowing. Naruto just blinked his large blue eyes innocently and nodded. Sasuke had to admit, Naruto did not look in anyway whatsoever evil, but he would not be deceived.

"A bet?" Sasuke said, still interpreting it. Naruto nodded again, wondering how many more times he would have to repeat it or nod to get it through that ignorant guy's thick skull.

"Well, that's…interesting. But whatever it is, it's not going to happen any time soon. You should thank me for sparing you life, but you're not going to be around for any longer to say it, because you are leaving," he said harshly, and attempted to slam the door in the Naruto's face.

Naruto stuck out his arm and grabbed the door, leaving a small crack where he could still see one of Sasuke's dark eyes.

"Come on, I can't leave without you smiling," he said, putting his face closer to the door, hoping that Sasuke could see the pleading look in his eyes. In response, he just tired to slam the door even harder, so that this time Naruto's nose would get caught in the door frame, since he was standing so close.

"So, let me guess. You win something really big and disgustingly orange if you get me to smile. How selfish of you, but it's not going to happen," Sasuke said coldly, sneering at him through the small crevice. Naruto was shocked. He had said it in such a monotone, calm voice with no surprise in it at all. It was not like people came around every day with bets about Sasuke smiling. After his crude insult, Naruto hesitated to continue with his endeavor, realizing that it was extremely selfish of him. Naruto decided that he would give it one more try, maybe not for the awesome item that would most likely be orange, but after seeing Sasuke's very dark (and only) side, it might be nice and more than rewarding to see him smile. _One more shot_, Naruto promised himself. He opened the door and yanked Sasuke by the arm.

"C'mon," Naruto said, dragging him. "I'm gonna give it one more shot for the hell of it, and to get you back on that previous orange comment you made." They scrambled down the hallway and Naruto pulled out his keys and swung them expertly around his ring finger.

"So basically," Sasuke said dryly, "you're kidnapping me." Naruto started to pull him down the stairs and they went outside. Naruto pressed the button on his keys and the lights flashed as the car unlocked. Sasuke tried to yank away for a bit but Naruto kept his tight grip on his pale, slim wrist, so Sasuke stopped being a hardass. Temporarily, at least.

"Not necessarily, since you don't seem to be putting up much of a fight. It's almost like your willingly following me, loser. It's also ridiculously easy to drag you along, weakling." Naruto laughed and received a growl from Sasuke, but he followed him nonetheless, almost tripping when he was shoved into the passenger's seat of the car. The blond quickly hopped into the other side and locked his Firebird, in case the Sasuke tried to pull off any escape stunts.

Naruto swung his keys once more and grinned foxily at Sasuke, before jabbing in the keys and starting up the engine. "You better not break the windows trying to escape, I just bought this car."

"Can I break other things?" Sasuke said, with a hint of sarcasm. "Like _legs_?" He decided to add a death threat too, apparently.

* * *

Naruto was somewhat relieved when they finally reached their destination. Throughout the car ride, he was secretly hoping that an awkward silence would not occur, and now somewhat unfortunately, he attained his wish. The whole time was spent with Sasuke growling angrily (in a sort of cute way in Naruto's opinion), which is not necessarily silence, the two of them (mainly Sasuke since Naruto did not think fighting was going to put a smile on anyone's face) being difficult and arguing, and too much violent death threats for comfort, all intended for Naruto. He had never encountered a person like Sasuke, and his atypical deadly and smug personality made him oddly interesting to be around. Naruto was becoming distracted, and he was having fun responding Sasuke's death threats, which surprised him. Yes, he could not have been more satisfied to exit his car with Sasuke in there with him.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Sasuke was quite satisfied to be out also, because not only did he not like cramped spaces, he did not personally enjoy Naruto's ranting and foxy grins, which made him only angrier because they almost made him smile. It was unbelievably horrible, and if he let that popular blond idiot win the satisfaction of making the Sasuke Uchiha smile at something he said or did, not only would he win the sinfully orange object, (which was still quite selfish in Sasuke's point of view) but it would be disastrous for his reputation. When Sasuke, along with Naruto, looked up to see that they had ended up at some bar, he almost preferred the car. Almost.

Naruto started up his annoying (for some people at least) foxy grins again towards Sasuke when he saw the look on his face. He was not sure whether Sasuke was shocked, somewhat happy, or afraid that this was the place where he would cave, but yes, there was some sort of fear in Sasuke's eyes. Maybe he had never been in a bar before. Somehow, though, Sasuke was not too incredibly shocked that Naruto had picked this place, because usually people related smiling with alcohol. It was amazing how being under the influence could entirely alter someone's personality and behavior. They were both aware of that.

"What, Sasuke? Has the little Uchiha never been in a bar before?" He teased, in a way that was somewhat insulting, yet not like he intended to intimidate or make fun of Sasuke. He was simply playing around with Sasuke. He almost ran away for a second, but he was no coward, and he was just about sure if he walk away Naruto would start doing the stupid chicken-wings thing. Not like Sasuke cared. But it was his damn Uchiha pride that kept him from running, and now he was certain that was what was going to kill him some day.

"You wish," he growled. Naruto looked Sasuke with his blue eyes for a moment, and finally understood that he was not about to go anywhere, and was waiting for Naruto to go in first. Odd. Did he want it to look like he was being forced into the bar in case anyone saw him? Naruto did not know Sasuke very well, but from what he could tell what he was thinking just sounded way too un-Uchiha-like.

"What are you waiting for?" Sasuke growled. "Are we going to go in or not?" He said, even though he did not want to go in. The sun was about to set and the temperature would drop significantly, and he was not in the mood to be cold. Naruto smiled at him, clearly satisfied, grabbed Sasuke's thin wrist, and pulled him into the bar. The last thing Naruto would most likely remember was the jingling bell of the entrance door, because Sasuke was sure that he was going to get himself drunk off his ass. At least then, he would be less likely to notice if Sasuke left.

"Let's sit here," Naruto said as he sat them down on the spinning stools that were right at the bar. Naruto was ordering their liquor (ordering more for Sasuke than for himself) while the Uchiha was observing his surroundings. There were drunken people, mostly men, lying around, and the smell of hard liquor was lingering unpleasantly in the air. It almost made him cringe. He had never been to a bar before, but it is not like Naruto needed to know that.

"Here you go." Naruto shoved him a shot of liquor. Sasuke just looked at it then glowered at Naruto.

"It's not going to hurt you, Uchiha," he said in a teasing voice, as if he was trying to coax Sasuke into drinking it. Naruto had already downed two, and was around ordering his third one, still looking pretty sober. He could probably hold down a lot, due to tolerance, but he could most likely tell that Sasuke was an inexperienced drinker, and would become drunk reasonably fast.

Naruto swallowed a few more and started to smile unconditionally at Sasuke. He was starting to feel a little dizzy. He needed to get Sasuke to smile, not get himself drunk. Sasuke took a little sip, then made a disgusted face, and Naruto smiled again. Well, he was kind of smiling about everything at this point. The loud music in the bar was starting to get to Naruto's head and was pounding in his ears, his cheeks were flushed, and he was getting even dizzier. Sasuke could tell, that after only god knows how many drinks, he was now slightly drunken. People started gathering around Sasuke and bothering him to drink more, and started to buy him drinks.

"Let me get ya a drink, missus," they mumbled, assuming that Sasuke was a girl with his slightly long, dark hair and almost feminine features, and not to mention they were extremely intoxicated. He was exasperated with the entire situation. He glanced over at a drunken Naruto, who was being encouraged by several slutty girls to drink more, even though he was practically passing out on the counter. He was still smiling though. Sasuke dumped his shot into a nearby plant and started to walk away from all the men that were offering him drinks. Females were crawling all over Naruto, and Sasuke briefly wondered if attracting drunken men was better or worse. He was almost halfway out the door when he heard the heavy thump of the tall, muscular blond passing out and hitting the floor. The girls around him started to giggle.

To leave him there or not to leave him there was the tempting question that Sasuke had to face. No matter how much he wanted to leave him there, Sasuke would feel somewhat guilty, but not enough to really bother him. He shrugged the thought off and struggled to drag the dead weight over to the car, ignoring all the drunken men in the process. He also had to fight all the rabid girls to get Naruto away.

"Come...on…you…fat...piece of…crap..." He propped Naruto on his back and struggled to drag him to the Firebird. He grabbed the keys to the car from the pocket of Naruto's pants. Overgrown golden bangs hung over Sasuke's shoulders, which were grown out from pure laziness and the lack of a desire to spend money on a haircut, not style. From the dragging, Naruto's loose shoes fell off once or twice since his feet were scraping against the ground. Sasuke managed to finally get to their parking spot and tossed him into the car.

"Finally, lose some weight..." He murmured and started the engine. It was not a long way back to the dorms and he turned on the radio. Naruto began to snore quite loudly. He raised the volume of the radio to drown out the noise, but it was not working very well.

"Shut up, goddamn…" He turned the sharp corner to the entrance of the dorms and Naruto's head fell onto Sasuke's shoulder, and his snoring seemed even louder. Naruto mumbled some incoherent words and started to unconsciously drool into Sasuke's hair, so the Uchiha kicked him away. Now Sasuke was in grave need of a shower, and Naruto would not only wake up with a bad hangover, but a concussion as well. Naruto mistook Sasuke for a pillow and tried to give him a hug, so he had no choice but to restrain his arms, and it was not like he minded tying him up anyway. He dragged him up the stairs and to his dorm (since it was not that hard to find, because it was the only room with very orange and Naruto-like things in it) and literally threw him into the messy room, leaving Naruto knocked out on the floor with his arms tied behind his back.

"Sleep tight, dobe," Sasuke snickered, referring to the tight ties around Naruto's hands. He shut the door, locked it, and put a chair he took from Naruto's dorm under the knob to ensure that he would not have any early-morning visitors. Too bad Naruto was unconscious and could not see Sasuke's arrogant smile.

* * *

(A/N): This story shall eventually get to NaruSasu, and yes, I know Sakura is currently Naruto's girlfriend, but we'll fix that, eventually.

_Notes on the story: _Gaara has eyebrows in this, and does not have a forehead tattoo. As for Naruto, as in he does not have the cute little whiskers in this, or at least not _yet. _I know that it seems as if Naruto and Sasuke's social positions have been reversed, but it really is more realistic this way. Also, they live in a coastal southern Californian city that is populated with mostly Asian people, particularly Japanese people, because Asian people rule SoCal. Their city used to be like the Asian-town of another city but it expanded and ruled the world. I now wish that I had given it a name other than Konoha City, even though it is densely populated by Asians, it should have an English name, like Leaf. That would've worked fine, since California is also inhabited by hippies. But I don't know what you people would do if I suddenly changed the name of the city. Ehehe. :D

That is all. Review!


	2. Just Peachy

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own anyone in Naruto. I don't own Naruto. I don't own Sasuke. But Sasuke likes to smell fruity.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, nauseating amounts of ramen, strong language, HungOver!Naruto.

_Please review n.n_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO: JUST PEACHY**

The knocks at his door were getting louder. Sasuke grunted, grabbed his pillow, and stuffed his head beneath it, not wanting to be woken up on a Saturday morning. He usually was not a late sleeper, but due to last night's crazy and not so pleasant events, he could care less if he slept in the whole day. The knocking persisted and he had to wonder who in hell could be at his door. Sasuke had placed a chair under that blond brat's doorknob in order to make sure he would not be receiving any unwanted visitors in the morning. He became exasperated with the rapping, due to an extremely short temper, and harshly flung his pillow at the door. He hoped it would scare off the idiot at his door, who just was begging to die. Good thing Sasuke was in an unusually generous mood this morning. All he wanted to do was sleep, yet the knocking continued on without relent.

"Sasuke…" He heard an unpleasantly familiar voice call. No, not him again. He made sure he put the damn chair under the doorknob. Yet, the obnoxious voice was clearly heard through the wall, contradicting all of Sasuke's evidence that Naruto was not at his door.

"Let me in….please…" Naruto groaned, his head throbbing with pain. His head felt heavy and his body unbalanced, as if he was going to collapse at any given moment. He had many hangovers before and had drunk even more than he did last night on several occasions, but they had never been this bad. He knocked a few more times, wondering if Sasuke was still sleeping. He was exhausted from last night, but that did not mean that he did not have the energy to kick down the door again. He had an exceptionally large amount of stamina.

Sasuke was now fully alert, and therefore did not have any hopes of falling back to sleep. As little as he knew about Naruto, he could tell that he was determined by the way his eyes would glitter impishly. So, he would be there until he let him in. Not seeing much of a choice, the Uchiha crawled down from the top bunk of his bed and opened the door.

"What is it?" Sasuke inquired, somewhat sleepily, but he still had an unnecessary amount of crudeness in his voice. Naruto blinked at him, his vision still somewhat hazy, not sure if that really was Sasuke. He could not tell. Did he usually go around yawning tiredly in people's faces?

"That you, bastard?" Naruto asked uncertainly and received a vicious growl in return. Now he was sure that it was Sasuke standing before him. Naruto, being the dobe that he was, let himself into Sasuke's dorm and flopped down onto the bottom bunk, rubbing his pounding head. Sasuke did not do much about it except murmur a few not-so-nice comments under his breath before laying back into a chair. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Naruto nursed his aching head, complaining quietly about how it would not go away. He should have thought more before drinking like he had been starved on an island without water, and there was the fact that Sasuke kicked him in his head.

"What happened last night?" Naruto questioned, still rubbing his head unconsciously. Sasuke raised his tired black eyes and yawned a bit before deciding to comply and answer.

"Nothing much." Naruto gave Sasuke a look of extreme annoyance from his spot on the bed. Sasuke gave him a glare in return. He was not the annoying one here. Besides, why should he tell Naruto? It was his own fault that he could not remember. Naruto sighed with exasperation, looked at Sasuke with his cerulean eyes, and stopped nursing his head for a moment.

"Not the talkative type, I see? You could at least try to talk, you damned bastard. It might help your social skills while you're at it, and here is someone lying around that actually is willing to talk to you. You'd just be a dumbass if you blew it off…" Naruto trailed off, halted his nonsense (in Sasuke's world) rambling, and stuffed his face in Sasuke's pillow. He quit rubbing his pulsing head, because it obviously was not working well. Naruto usually slept flat on his stomach with his face directly in the pillow, and he could not help but notice the funky pillow smell his nose picked up. It smelled like peaches, which he assumed smelled like Sasuke.

"What's up with this peachy smell on the pillow? Don't tell me you use fruity shampoos or colognes on yourself, because that would be way un-Uchiha-like." He was just assuming, because the only Uchiha he had ever heard of was Sasuke, and he was uncertain if he had any family, since he was living here. Naruto considered if all Uchihas were like Sasuke, then yes, that would be very un-Uchiha-like, since it was also very un-Sasuke-like, based on what he knew so far. Which was not much, Naruto had to admit, but it was not as if Sasuke seemed to have a split personality. It was strictly a leave-me-alone-or-die type of personality.

Sasuke really had not been listening to what Naruto had been saying, because to him it sounded all the same. Blah, blah, nonsense, ramble, peaches. He was pretty damn sure that he said something about peaches, no matter how random that was. (Maybe if he had been paying attention, he would not have thought of it as so random.) Sasuke was too absorbed in thinking about what Naruto had said earlier. He wanted to talk to Sasuke. His mouth went dry thinking about it, because the most popular guy on campus (regardless of the fact that he was an idiot) was willingly sitting in Sasuke's dorm driveling about things Sasuke did not care about, whereas people nearer to Sasuke's own social status did not bother to say a word to him. He had always thought that was the way he wanted it.

"Sasuke, are you listening to one damn thing that I'm saying? You're jus' sitting there with some spacey look on your face which is odd since you usually have a grr-I-shall-kill-you look on your face…you're still not paying attention are you? If you don't start listening, I'll tell the whole damn college that you smell like peaches and that's sure some weird shit, and I don't think that'll be too good for your rep because people won't be so afraid of you now since the formerly scary Sasuke Uchiha likes to smell fruity."

"What did you say? I wasn't paying attention," Sasuke mumbled like he was serious, but Naruto thought he saw the beginnings of a smirk appear on his lips. He glared and grunted with frustration, unwilling to repeat the entirety of what he had just said. Sasuke already knew how to get to Naruto. That little bastard.

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked. He sat up from the lower bunk and focused his eyes on Sasuke, who was spread out across the chair now, still looking rather tired. He merely glanced at him with dull black eyes in return and nodded slightly.

"I said that it's weird an' shit how you, Sasuke Uchiha, like to smell fruity." Naruto crossed his arms and fell backwards onto the bed, not even bothering to watch the look on Sasuke's face. He was probably shocked that Naruto had discovered his deepest-darkest secret, and would beg him not to tell and ruin his reputation. Naruto grinned exultantly, closed his eyes, and laid back. In actuality, Sasuke's expression remained unchanged, bored and weary.

"Why? A man can't smell like fruit if he wants to? It's better than smelling like sweat."

"But that's a manly man smell. Chicks dig it, and it's a great way to attract them," Naruto pointed out ever so smartly, obviously unaware of the fact that Sasuke did not give a damn about girls. He would not care if they all disappeared from the face of the planet and never returned.

"Do you think I want to attract girls?" Sasuke asked, emphasizing the word girls, so it would get through Naruto's thick skull that he did not use the popular blond's term 'chicks'. Naruto looked at him with wonder at the fact that he disliked females.

"Why do you have to be Mr. Asexual-Bastard? You're no fun," he whined. Then, he began complaining about his head again, even though it did not hurt much anymore. He could not figure out why bothering Sasuke was so thrilling. Perhaps it was because he was so quick to anger.

"If I'm not any fun to you at all," Sasuke said harshly, "then why don't you just leave?" He suggested, but he did not allow himself to hope. Naruto, being the blond brat that he was, would probably dismiss it and linger just to annoy Sasuke, which he was currently doing. After Sasuke's comment, Naruto just shrugged and continued to lie around. He knew Sasuke did not want him here and wanted him to leave, but it was just too amusing. Besides, he was still uninformed on the events of last night.

"Nah," Naruto said, grinning foxily. "I think I'll stick 'round a bit. It's kinda fun to bug you and all," he said. He grew tired of lying on the pillow of horrendously intoxicating peaches, so he sat up and slid off the lower bunk. The sheets were now untidy and had a Naruto-shaped impression on them, which irritated Sasuke, who was quite meticulous. For all that Sasuke knew Naruto could shed his messy blond hair all over the blankets, or have fleas. Naruto wobbled somewhat when he stood, and everything turned orange. Having done so too quickly, he fell backward immediately, but thankfully he landed back onto the bed. But being the tall hunk he was, his head connected with the wall.

He grunted, grabbed his head, and started to squirm a bit, as if that would alleviate the pain. Sasuke had been somewhat startled when Naruto's head hit the wall, but then he realized what was happening, lay back, and enjoyed the show. Naruto closed his eyes tightly and groaned, and Sasuke decided that it was about time he did something. He stood and stretched, then almost slugged over, but his Uchiha pride had not allowed him to do so. He stood completely straight and walked as normally as he could to the medicinal cabinet in the bathroom. He grabbed the aspirin and tossed it at Naruto's head.

"Ouch! What was that?" Naruto wriggled slightly, and then grabbed the bottle of pills that had been expertly thrown at him. Naruto's head hurt even more now.

"Aspirin, it might help the pain a bit," Sasuke said blandly. Naruto gazed at the bottle intently and Sasuke watched him, awkwardly standing in the middle of the room. He squinted at all the small words that he could not see in an attempt to read them. Sasuke's patience was just as short as his temper.

"Well?" He asked, irritated.

"Um, how many do I take? My head kinda hurts…and I can't read all the little words on the back," he said pointedly and flipped the bottle around, so the side with all the scribbles was facing Sasuke. He leaned forward and glanced at the words on the pill bottle.

"Well, you're over 12, right? Take how many people over 12 have to take," he said dismissively. Sasuke made his way back to the chair and sat on it lazily, waiting for Naruto to take the pills already. The blond grunted in agitation and tossed the bottle somewhere behind Sasuke's desk, leaving it for him to find later.

"That's the point of you reading it! It's too small, and my head hurts, so I can't!" Naruto pointed out, giving up on taking the medication. With all the pressure Sasuke was putting on him, he doubted he could get past opening the child-proof cap without intense difficulty.

"Maybe I shouldn't have kicked you in the head," Sasuke uttered.

He picked up the newspaper and began to read, pretending to be deeply engrossed. His black eyes moved from side to side, reading each sentence quickly. An article relayed information on the robbery of a pearl-handed pistol that occurred in a nearby town, over the mountains. Naruto stared hard at Sasuke as he read the paper calmly, probably hiding a smirk from him. Suddenly, the realization of as to why his head hurt so much hit Naruto.

"You kicked my head?" He accused, his mouth hanging open, incredulous. "No wonder why it hurts so much, you damn bastard…" He trailed off, murmuring every curse word in his vocabulary under his breath, directing the slew of words toward Sasuke. He was still reading the paper casually, as if it was not his fault that he had kicked Naruto in the head. Right, like his leg had a spasm and it accidentally happened to kick the very precise spot that was Naruto's head.

"Are you also the reason that I had my hands tied behind my back? Or the fact that there was a chair preventing me from getting out of my own dorm and I had to call the janitor in order to get out?" Naruto asked angrily. Sasuke looked up from the paper and raised a thin black eyebrow at him. He had never seen Naruto mad before, and it was quite entertaining.

"So that's how you got out. I should've thought about that possibility earlier," he admitted, then continued reading the paper. Naruto's face flushed with anger. It was either that or he was embarrassed about Sasuke locking him in a room and tying him up when he was drunk.

"Why'd you have to restrain me?" Naruto demanded, his face returning to its normal tanned (from constantly surfing) tone. He began to pace back and forth in an attempt to rid of his anger. Sasuke took a wild guess and decided that his head did not as much as it seemed. He halted in front of Sasuke, awaiting his answer. Sasuke folded the newspaper neatly on his lap and placed it on the table.

"Can't be letting drunken people run rampant through the streets," Sasuke said, stood up, and stretched. Only a few inches separated them and Naruto's blue eyes darkened considerably. Naruto glared threateningly at Sasuke, and his cold obsidian eyes met him with an equally intimidating glare. Of course, Sasuke would not say that Naruto had been unconscious, and therefore could not be running rampant. He certainly would not say it was the fact that he had been drooling all over his peach-scented hair (it had taken him quite a while to get that out in the shower) that made Sasuke restrain him.

Naruto gave up, looked away, sat on the bed again, and glanced at Sasuke. He widened his eyes and pouted. Sasuke glowered at how such a horridly popular idiot could look so innocent. It had to be his large, perky blue eyes. Damn those large, perky blue eyes.

"Actually you were pretty drunk," Sasuke started unsurely, uncertain of why he was bothering to say this. Naruto looked at him with a questioning expression, waiting expectantly. He raised one of his eyebrows. "To the point that you had passed out, so I had to fight the rabid girls surrounding you and drag you out of there," Sasuke admitted quickly, receiving an awed stare from Naruto. It made Sasuke almost seem, no matter how strange it would sound, kind. It would have been even kinder if he had not kicked him and tied him up. Sasuke must have figured this, so he quickly added a nasty insult to go along with it.

"But seriously, Naruto, you have to lose some weight. You were one fat piece of crap to carry." Naruto just grinned in response and nodded with a sarcastic raise of his eyebrows. To both of their surprise, Sasuke's face turned a somewhat less pale shade.

"You're blushing, how cute," Naruto teased and Sasuke's face darkened, but still retained its slight tint. Naruto walked up to Sasuke and squatted down beside him as his face returned to its usual pale color.

"That must've been something for you, seeing as how evil you always are. Hey! I've got an idea. How 'bout in a way of saying thanks for not abandoning me while I was passed out and in the hands of rabid and horny girls, I'll treat you to some ramen. I know this great place on the other side of town called Ichiraku's, and we could get to know each other better, and you not throwing death threats at me would be pretty cool," Naruto rambled, paying close attention to Sasuke's face in an attempt to catch a glimpse of his thoughts. He would not be too surprised if Sasuke refused, since he was antisocial and especially bitter toward people like Naruto. Sasuke's face stayed the same, but different emotions swirled though his dark eyes, most likely trying to figure out whether or not to go. Naruto allowed him to mull it over. He closed his eyes, sat back against the wall near Sasuke's chair, and waited.

Sasuke was unsure of what to do. Part of him would not mind some free ramen, since he just realized how hungry he was, another part of him was viciously telling him to deny the offer, and a very small part of him thought that it might not be so bad. That aspect was instantly crushed by the others for considering that. Sasuke realized it was not an expression of Naruto's gratitude, but an invitation to hang out with him. His stomach growled and the part of him that was hungry won hands down.

"I'll go," Sasuke said, somewhat crudely, receiving a bright smile from Naruto. "But only for the free ramen. I'm hungry." He talked more to himself than to Naruto, as if he needed reassurance.

* * *

Naruto watched as Sasuke stormed away from him, his hostility having returned. He did not understand why he had become irate. Maybe it was the fact that Naruto had made Sasuke walk. To the other side of town, that is, and now he was making him walk back. Maybe he was getting cramps. As they ate, Naruto had watched intently, yet in a 'omg-wtf' way, as Sasuke stuffed his face with nauseating amounts of ramen, since he never would have expected Sasuke to eat that much. He must have been starving. Naruto was usually such a huge fan of ramen and loved to eat several bowls of it daily, but today he thought if he ever saw another bowl of ramen, he would vomit.

Naruto watched Sasuke's back as he walked ahead of him, refusing to walk beside him, and it would simply destroy him if he had to walk behind Naruto. Sasuke walked steadily, trying to reach the college dorms before he collapsed. He had been very hungry, therefore he had eaten a great deal, and all the walking that the blond idiot made him do to further earn the ramen gave him a large cramp. He should have thought about the possibility of this happening earlier. A sharp pain struck his side for a moment, but he recovered quickly and maintained his fast pace. Sasuke was almost power-walking and Naruto lagged behind, since he did not feel like barraging through the streets. He checked from the corner of his eye to make sure Naruto was still behind him. Nobody had to know he was checking. It was just that Sasuke had not been in this part of town for years and sort of had no idea where he was going. He searched for any signs that Naruto noticed they were lost, but the blond was not paying attention. He was too busy spacing out.

Naruto followed Sasuke through every twist and turn of the sidewalks, disregarding the direction in which they were going. As long as he could see a somewhat short (Sasuke stopped growing at 5'7", so he was short compared to Naruto) person with duck-butt hair and dark clothing, he knew he was okay. Naruto had no desire to lead the way. He wanted someone else to take over for once, and it did not seem like Sasuke minded very much. Naruto was preoccupied with thinking about Ichiraku's, anyway. He had failed miserably in his attempt to hold a conversation with Sasuke, because every time he tried to talk to him, Sasuke would just stuff his face with more ramen. If Naruto was perceptive, he would have grown suspicious of Sasuke's exact timing. If possible, he wanted to befriend Sasuke. It was not like he was going to tell Sasuke that, because then he would get his ass kicked in response. He refrained from admitting that to Sasuke, though, because it would probably give him an incentive to be particularly unfriendly toward Naruto.

When Naruto emerged from his bubble of thought, he noticed that they were walking in the wrong direction. He increased his pace to catch up to Sasuke, then halted and looked at him with irritation. "What is it, dobe?" Sasuke asked dryly. Naruto looked at him, wondering when he had decided to start calling him dobe, but dismissed it. At least it was some form of familiar recognition.

"Do you have any idea where you're going, Sasuke, or is this some short-cut back that you know? Because it's either that or you're lost, or for some reason you want to take the long way, 'cause were almost at the Konoha Mall, which we are not supposed to be at," Naruto said sternly, staring straight into Sasuke's black eyes, trying to get something besides a grunt or a glare out of him. Perhaps like some words that would answer his question.

To his dismay, Sasuke just shot him a death glare and ignored him. He knew he was damn stubborn and was not about to admit that they were lost. Damn Uchiha pride. Naruto glared, baring his teeth, and growled. He stepped directly in front of Sasuke, who was still ignoring him.

"Bastard, you better answer me right now!" Naruto threatened through his teeth. Sasuke crossed his arms tightly and glanced to the side, becoming exasperated. Naruto was about to open his mouth to yell when he heard a cluster of footsteps approaching. He looked ahead, along with Sasuke. Neji, Ino, Gaara and Sakura were walking in their direction, talking among one another. The girls swung their shopping bags while Gaara and Neji just nodded along and drank their sodas. Sasuke's eyes immediately narrowed and he crossed his arms even tighter.

Sakura halted abruptly, causing the rest of her friends to do the same a moment later. They looked at her and followed her gaze to the two boys standing in front of them. Naruto's girlfriend lowered her sunglasses and stared at them for a few seconds.

"Naruto?" She asked uncertainly. She was surprised that he was still with that emo kid, Sasuke. "Is that you?" She asked, hoping that her eyes deceived her. Naruto froze and Sasuke sneered at her cruelly. Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Hey Sakura, guys. What's up?" Naruto said, trying to be as nonchalant as he could. Sasuke kept his glare on them steadily, but their attention was focused entirely on Naruto. He had a light blush on his face and Sasuke scowled, because it was quite obvious why they were shocked. Naruto's snobbish friends were surprised to find the two walking together, even if they had been on the verge of attacking each other.

"Why are you still hanging out with the Uchiha?" Gaara asked in a tone that was darker than his usual one. He crossed his arms, awaiting an answer.

Naruto just laughed and tried to think of something to say. He was not embarrassed to admit that he was hanging out with Sasuke, in the lesser meaning of the term. There was nothing wrong with that, but the words would not come out of his mouth; they decided to halt their journey and linger tauntingly at the tip of his tongue. Naruto shuffled about in a flustered manner while they stared him down. Sasuke was yet again going unnoticed, which he should have preferred, but it was beginning to annoy him.

"Um, well, you know." He hoped that they would answer the question for him, even if Sasuke would rip him apart limb-from-limb later for it, and their chance at friendship and Naruto walking again would be zero.

They all stared at him for a few seconds before the light bulb Naruto was hoping for went off in Ino's head.

"Oh, you mean the bet, right? That's still going on? If he hasn't smiled already you know there's a pretty slim chance that he will. You're either determined, or an idiot, Naruto," Ino said, grinning at him. Gaara continued with his steady gaze and Sakura remained surprised, but calming down nonetheless (though there was nothing that should merit alarm). Neji seemed indifferent toward the entire situation. The corners of Naruto's lips almost twitched up in a smile.

"Yup." Naruto nodded, receiving a look from Sasuke that was something in between a twitch and a glare. Naruto gave him a brief, stern look in return. It was not as if he was denying that he treated Sasuke to ramen, he was just agreeing with someone else's lie. So, technically, it was not as bad.

"We tried calling you earlier so you could go to the mall with us, but you didn't answer. Where were you?" Ino asked curiously.

Naruto remembered that he had left his cell phone in his car last night. He was not about to tell his friends that he dragged Sasuke to a bar, though, because he was uncertain of how they would react. He settled for lying and had to think of a suitable excuse for not picking up his phone.

"I…uh, I was sleeping. I'll see you guys later. Me and Sasuke have to head back now, you know, bet and all to complete, big orange thing to win," he said, trying to smile as convincingly as he could. He quickly waved goodbye to his friends, and noticed Neji's even gaze directed towards he and Sasuke. Naruto walked away from his friends casually after glancing at Sasuke quickly, silently begging him to play along and follow him. Sasuke eyed Naruto's friends coldly, then the thing they least expected happened. Sasuke smiled at them smugly before strolling away.

"How did Naruto know it was orange?" Ino asked in a slight whisper, uncertainly breaking the unusual silence between the friends.

* * *

Naruto led the way on the trip back to their dorms, to prevent getting lost and encountering anyone else he knew. He would have to repeat the same act over and over again. Sasuke followed grumpily, still annoyed from stumbling across those snobs. He could not fathom how Naruto could be friends with such people. When they finally reached the dorms and climbed the stairs, Naruto went to Sasuke's dorm absentmindedly instead of his own. He stood by the door and waited for him to unlock it. Sasuke glared at Naruto while he waited impatiently to be let inside. He still had not managed to shake the dobe off. That blonde slut was right, he was either determined or an idiot for sticking around Sasuke.

Sasuke walked into his room and sat on the chair again, expecting Naruto the lay on the bottom bunk once more, mess up all of the sheets, and contaminate his peachy pillows. As expected, he did exactly that, stretching out across the bed and yawning indolently. He closed his eyes, smiling contently, and looked like he was ready to fall asleep when it was only the early afternoon. It was palpable that he had no intention of leaving any time soon, so Sasuke decided to do what he does best; ignore Naruto and make no note of his existence whatsoever. He slid onto the floor, pulled out his binders and folders, and decided now was a good time to start his schoolwork, seeing as there was nothing else to do. Even if Naruto was right at his heels, following him around, and being unconditionally obnoxious, he still had to maintain his perfect GPA.

Naruto opened one cerulean eye to peer at what Sasuke was doing. He was writing line after line on a paper, doing homework for whichever class. Naruto had no interest at all in school and yawned with boredom. Sasuke continued his work, undistracted, and Naruto began to watch him write quite intently. He appeared to be a very good student, whereas Naruto was not. Naruto remembered that they shared a class together and leaned over to take a tiny peek.

"I see you," Sasuke said, without lifting his gaze from his paper. Naruto was caught off guard and slunk back. Sasuke continued his homework and the steady tapping of his pencil was starting to annoy Naruto. After a few minutes of silence, Naruto became rather bored. He crawled onto the floor and sat cross-legged next to Sasuke, still peering at his homework.

"This is boring. You do homework in your free time?" Naruto asked, like it was something unbelievable. Sasuke still did not bother to look at him and continued to write. Naruto did not seem to realize that was when homework was supposed to be done.

"Obviously."

"I usually surf or do something else fun. Not homework. That's for later when I've already done every other possible thing I can think of." Naruto ranted on, but to his dismay Sasuke was not listening, nor did he even pretend to do so and nod along. Naruto's eyes narrowed. "You know," he continued, "you seem to be really into your homework, Sasuke. That's kind of…well, nerdy." He was hoping to insult Sasuke and evoke am aggravated response, since that was something recently added to Naruto's fun-things-to-do list, which also consisted of surfing, driving fast, hanging with friends, eating ramen, and making out with Sakura. To his disappointment, Sasuke did not respond. Not immediately, at least.

"Were you lying about the bet to your friends?" He asked suddenly. Naruto was taken aback; so far, in his little experience with Sasuke, he would ask the questions and Sasuke would answer with an arrogant insult or two. Naruto stared at him with slight uncertainty as Sasuke continued his writing steadily. He finished and went on to the next assignment. Naruto decided to go along with it and answer.

"I was lying," he said, and it certainly was not one of his prouder moments. He stated simply that because there was nothing else to say about it. He was a jerk and he was glad Sasuke played along with it despite that. Sasuke stopped doing his schoolwork, raised his black eyes, and stared directly into Naruto's cerulean ones. Naruto looked straight back, somewhat wary of what Sasuke would say next.

"Well, then," Sasuke said, snapping his binder shut while holding Naruto's gaze. "I got my free food and you admit that you gave up on the bet, so I see no reason for you to be lingering around my dorm."

Naruto was unsure of what would come next. He looked up when Sasuke came towards him, made him stand up, fiercely swung open the door, put a foot on Naruto's back, and literally kicked him out of his room. Naruto stumbled and nearly fell, but then regained his balance and turned to look at Sasuke, who had now grasped the doorknob. "Get out of my dorm, and stay there, I still have plenty of broken, sharp objects in my room that I can use against you."

"Uh, hey, Sasuke…wait a sec-." Sasuke slammed the door in his face, and then locked it. He sat on the floor and opened his binder once more, so he could finish his homework in peace. Naruto lowered his hand that he was going to use to reach out and stop Sasuke from closing the door. He sighed and started to quietly knock on the door, attempting politeness.

"Sasuke? C'mon…I didn't mean the whole bet-thing like that…I still want to hang out or something…Are you listening to me? Sasuke?" He knocked a few more times as quietly as he could, still trying to be polite (If he wanted to be so polite maybe he would respect the Sasuke's privacy). He was met by silence, which meant that Sasuke probably was trying to ignore him. Naruto sighed and he concluded that politeness was not meant for him, so he raised his fist and started to loudly bang on the door.

"Hey! Let me-!" He was in the middle of shouting when he heard laughter coming from down the hall. Naruto shifted his gaze to the stairs at the end of the hallway and the laughter grew louder. The approaching click of heels became audible. Naruto almost twitched. Sakura and Ino were probably coming to his dorm to pay him a visit. Naruto did not have enough time to frantically sprint to his room without being noticed, since they would probably hear him stampeding down the hall. He saw the tops of Ino and Sakura's heads and heard their laughter finally dying down.

Sasuke sat on the bottom bunk inside the dorm, still doing his homework, but stopped to listen when he no longer heard Naruto's persistent knocks. He looked at the door and it was completely silent. He wondered if Naruto had gone. The sound of high-heels and girls' laughter filled Sasuke's ears and he realized that visitors to the dormitory building were about to make their way down the hall, which was strange. Who Realization came to Sasuke and he sat still, trying to be as quiet as possible. It was Naruto's girlfriend and the blonde slut, most likely.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Sakura swung a shopping bag in her hands. The so-called explanation for coming was to give Naruto a present that they bought him. It acted as a cover for Ino and Sakura's true intentions. As if they had coincidentally came at the exact moment Naruto and Sasuke should be parting ways, and they coincidentally used the back stairs when the front stairs were closer to Naruto's dorm. And now, they coincidentally saw Naruto standing in front of you-know-who's door with his fist in mid air, ready to knock. And that is when Sakura's paranoia began.

"Hey! Naruto, we were just heading over to your room," Ino said casually, furtively elbowing Sakura in the ribs. She wanted the pink-haired girl to stop staring so blatantly. Naruto looked over and smiled at them, but his eyes betrayed his grin.

"Hey! I wasn't expecting you guys. Why'd you come? I'm kind of in the middle of something," he murmured and brushed his overgrown bangs from his face. He crossed his arms and looked at them, waiting for either of them to say something. Sakura was still staring and Ino smiled weakly before stepping closer to her and elbowing the pink-haired girl again. Naruto raised a blond eyebrow expectantly.

"Oh, yeah," Sakura said, laughing. She blushed slightly, and then quickly regained her composure, extending her arm that was carrying the bag. Naruto grasped it, wondered what it could be, and tried to take a peek inside the bag to find out. Sakura prevented him from doing so and Naruto stared, which was the only thing he seemed capable of at the moment.

"Um, thanks. A lot," Naruto said, gesticulating as he spoke on, "but why did you guys get me this? I mean, it's real nice and all but-." Ino suddenly cut him off.

"That's what friends are for, Naruto." Ino smiled brightly, and Sakura knew that her friend was going to say something about their true reason for coming. She felt like slapping her own large forehead and sighing. Naruto watched Ino smile suspiciously and he felt like backing away, but he stood his ground. He held his breath for a moment, anticipating Ino's words, and he noticed how it was quiet. There was no pencil-tapping coming from inside Sasuke's dorm like there had been a minute ago. That only meant one thing: Sasuke was listening in on their conversation. Naruto glanced furtively towards the door and listened again, expecting the pencil-tapping to resume. Naruto was aware that they were directly outside of his dorm, but that did not mean he had to become silent.

"Sooo, what are you doing outside this door?" Ino asked politely. "You were about to knock on it and then we came along. Who's in there?" She and Naruto both knew that she was prodding, but she looked too innocent to have any malicious intentions. Naruto figured, 'hey, why not?' Sakura gave her best friend an incredulous look. Ino would need a good slap for this later.

"Well, this is Sasuke's dorm and, you see, he just kicked me out," Naruto explained, not seeming embarrassed in the least. He just laughed lightly. Sasuke sat inside listening; he almost dropped his binder and let his papers flutter about haphazardly when he heard that. Sasuke had surely underestimated the dobe's capacity for idiocy. Not only did he not comprehend why those bitches he called friends were really there, he seemed to think that being kicked out of places was funny.

"So, naturally, I'm just trying to get him to let me back in," he added. Ino and Sakura stared. Natural for Naruto, they supposed. They doubted that anyone would even try to enter Sasuke's dorm, much less go back in after being threatened multiple times and having their life spared. It was like asking for death. Sakura smiled at Naruto for a second, admiring his determination, even if it was to the point of stupidity. Naruto laughed and brushed his hair out of his piercing blue eyes. Sakura admired how he was drop dead sexy and scorching hot, too.

"That guy is insane, you guys should try meeting him sometime, he really isn't that bad-." Naruto was interrupted by a loud thump that came from inside the dorm. He stared at the doorknob, wondering whether or not he should try entering the room now. He was also wondering what the hell that noise was.

"Um, right," Sakura said, rushing to end the conversation. "Well, just take the gift, Naruto. I hope you like it. It's from all of us." She strolled up to Naruto and gave him a sensual kiss, one that he would not forget, to make sure he acknowledged that he still had a girlfriend around. It was to rid of her paranoia, too.

"Especially me," Sakura said, somewhat provocatively. Naruto put on his usual crooked, foxy grin, and planted a quick kiss on Sakura's large forehead. The pink-haired girl strolled ahead, gesturing for Ino to follow after. Ino laughed, ran up to Naruto, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Me, too!" She exclaimed, referring to Sakura's last comment. "And you know you wanted that kiss from me." She giggled and strolled off with Sakura, who gave her a possessive look regarding Naruto and whacked her arm. They sauntered away laughing, but for Sakura, the laughter was merely superficial.

Sasuke did not bother to collect all the things that he dropped after he fell off the edge of his bed, rushed into the bathroom, and locked himself within it. He heard Naruto knocking at the door once again, asking to come in. Sasuke sat on the toilet seat, waiting for Naruto, along with what he just heard, to go away. It was just sickening.


	3. Sudden Ideas

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own anyone in Naruto, or any element of the anime/manga. But I do own this plot, although it seems to be going nowhere.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, SasUke, ShoppingAddiction!Gaara, more underage drinking, Itachi-ness, etc.

_Review dammit!_

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**CHAPTER THREE: SUDDEN IDEAS**

Sakura strolled through the mall with the rest of her friends, she and Naruto leading the pack. She latched herself onto his arm and gripped him rather possessively. The only one who seemed to notice how much she had been doing that for the past two weeks was Ino. The blonde guessed that her pink-haired friend was just being paranoid and overprotective of Naruto, as she always was whenever a new person or someone she did not like came along, such as the emo kid with an attitude, Sasuke. Naruto did not notice how much more his girlfriend had been snuggling up to him for the past two weeks, and he really appreciated her latching on to him and all, but he did notice how tightly she was gripping his arm when he started to lose feeling in it. He smiled sheepishly, brushed his long bangs from his eyes with his free hand, and touched Sakura's hand gently.

"Hey? Sakura? Can you um...loosen your grip a bit? I really can't feel my arm..." He said to her, and she cringed when Ino started laughing. Neji smirked and Gaara raised his eyebrows, but that was the most anyone would get out of them. Sakura wished that he would have whispered for once, but Naruto's voice was always too loud and everyone immediately heard him.

"S-Sure…" She said. Sakura decided to let go of his tanned arm entirely and left her hands to hang nervously at her sides. Ino, Neji, and Gaara sped up to meet Naruto and Sakura's pace and strolled along with them, chatting together about anything and everything. Ino was talking to Sakura about something that had happened during a class yesterday when they passed by a store with the newest Marc Jacob's sitting nicely on display near the windows. Ino gasped and tugged on Sakura's arm, dragging her to come along.

"Sakura, look at those shoes! Come on, we've got to go see them!" Ino shouted and ripped her friend from Naruto's side. Sakura tried to fight it and looked back only to see that Naruto was still talking with his friends. He had not noticed that she had left his side, which bothered her. She admitted that she felt somewhat neglected lately, but she could not expect much. Naruto was caring, funny, sweet, handsome, and surprisingly charming at times, but that did not change the fact that most of the time, he was a complete idiot.

"Ino! Don't drag me…" Sakura ordered, trying to release her arm from her friend's grasp. She was not really in the mood to look at shoes, and she was sure that Ino already had over fifty pairs, but that would not stop her from buying anymore. Ino yanked Sakura to her side and jumped up in a quick wave to the rest of their friends.

"We'll be back later guys! Me and Sakura are just going to go check out some shoes." She waved once more and they hurried off. Naruto turned around and blinked; he had not noticed that his girlfriend had left his side. Neji rolled his eyes at how excited girls became over trivial matters such as shoes, especially when they did not need any and just threw all their money out the window by doing so. Gaara glanced in their direction and blinked slowly, watching as Ino ran off to try on some super-tight pair of jeans she had found with Sakura lagging behind, annoyed. Naruto snickered, turned his gaze back to Gaara and Neji, and they continued to walk together. They passed a dark-looking store and Gaara's pale green eye's quickly darted to the side, eyeing it. Naruto had not caught this because he was spacing out, which Neji noticed he had been doing frequently as of late.

"Don't tell me you're getting into that look," Neji smirked, catching his red-headed friend off guard. He grunted, crossed his arms, and continued to walk as if Neji had said nothing. It was not like Gaara could not pull of the look; with his attitude and red hair it would go perfectly with him, but people like them were supposed to walk past such a place like it did not exist. Neji still wore his grin, and Gaara did not bother to give him a second glance, so he grumpily averted his gaze. Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his blond hair, knowing where this was going. Really, he would not mind going into that store, and he knew that Neji would not mind either, but he just liked being like that.

"Why don't we go take a look? Are you coming, Gaara?" Neji said and attempted to hide smirk that was persistently trying to appear on his lips. Gaara glared daggers, glided past Neji and Naruto, and walked straight into the store, daring them to follow him with his eyes. Naruto shrugged, skipped right in, and started to check out some black pants. He stared at them for a bit, inspecting them to make sure that they were wearable, then decided to hell with it, and headed to the register to buy the pants.

He put the black pants on the counter and the girl working the register gave him a weird look. He was wearing orange, had perky, blue eyes, a carefree smile, sunny blond hair, a tan, and not to mention muscles. Naruto did not like it when she gave him that what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here look, because he obviously did not belong here. He just quickly handed her his money, took the pants to escape her ominous gaze, and decided his best bet was to find Neji and Gaara somewhere in the store to hide his orangeness from the people who were staring at him like he was from another planet. He swung his bag around his finger and strolled past some shirts, searching the store for his friends. Unlike him, they dressed primarily in muted colors and seemed to blend in quite easily. He finally found them near the accessories.

Neji noticed that Naruto was coming towards the right side of him and eyed the draw-string shopping bag. He was a little surprised that Naruto would buy something in here, since he was not into the look like Gaara. Neji admitted to himself that he was indeed curious to what was inside the bag.

"Hey Naruto. What did you buy?" He asked, his curiosity not showing through his voice. Neji casually looked at a necklace. Naruto looked at him for a second, and then realized what he was asking, pulled the blank pants out of the bag, and displayed them to his friend.

"Just these pants. I like the pockets and the chain is pretty cool." Naruto tossed them back into his bag. He had finished his sentence, but Neji realized there was something else Naruto needed to say, since he was rather perceptive. His cerulean eyes darted from side to side, revealing that he was quite aware that people were staring at him again. Naruto shifted a bit on his feet and felt a little more than uncomfortable. "Can we please leave now? I stick out like a big orange sore thumb."

Neji chuckled lightly and nodded in response.

"Sure, I just need to find Gaara." Naruto nodded in response.

They agreed to meet outside the store once Neji had acquired Gaara and he walked outside as quickly as he could. He sighed and plopped down on a bench that was leaning against the half wall of the second level of the Konoha Mall. Naruto tried to wait as patiently as he could for Neji to appear, but he knew he had little patience, if he had any at all, and he was becoming exasperated. He wondered what was taking so long. It was not like Neji had to drag Gaara away from the store.

Naruto waited a few more minutes before deciding that he did not like being left alone for long (in his point of view) periods of time. He stood up and laxly dragged himself back into the store, trying to find Neji and Gaara who seemed to blend in with the color scheme. He finally thought that he saw Neji, ran up to the person with long, brown hair, and tapped their shoulder. The person turned around and glared at him fiercely. As she walked away the bell choker around her neck jingled. Okay, that was not Neji. Naruto wandered to the back of the store and found Neji sitting on a bench, looking bored. Naruto stormed towards him, his annoyance evident.

"Neji? What the hell are you doing! I thought you said you were going to get Gaara! Where is the little bastard, anyway? I mean, I didn't expect to find you lying around like some lazy-ass on a bench. If you wanted to do that, there was one right outside the store where I was. Why'd you keep me waiting?" Naruto asked, gesticulating angrily as he spoke, his unkempt blond hair moving as he did. Neji sighed, smirked, and waited for Naruto to finish his rant and calm down, because it would be pointless to try to speak over Naruto's boisterous and nearly obnoxious voice. He would just be wasting his breath. Naruto pouted, sat down next to Neji on the bench, and tossed his bag onto the spot next to him. Neji decided now was the time to start talking.

"I'm waiting for Gaara. Apparently, he found many things that he likes in this store and locked himself up in one of the dressing rooms over there." He paused and pointed to the stalls in a separate room that was near to them. "And he refuses to come out until he's done, and you know if I say anything otherwise that sounds offensive towards his decision, he'll get in one of those moods and whip my ass," he stated blatantly. Naruto blinked and he heard a curse come from one of the stalls among other not-so-nice things. He assumed that was the stall in which Gaara had locked himself up. Naruto laughed lightly at his friend's response to Neji's words, which he had clearly intended for Gaara to hear.

"I never thought I'd see him like this," Naruto mused. "It's almost like he's a girl getting overexcited about shopping. Maybe Ino is starting to rub off on him." He laughed and Neji rolled his eyes, but chuckled nonetheless. They both heard a grunt and a stomp come from the stalls, and Gaara swung the door open fiercely and stepped towards his friends quietly.

"I heard that," he muttered darkly, carrying an arm full of clothing. Naruto was surprised and gaped at all the clothes that he held. Neji had not over-exaggerated, which was not to say that he ever did, but it was somewhat odd, to say the least. Naruto quickly got over it, smiled innocently, and blinked his sparkling blue eyes at Gaara in attempt to be spared. The redhead merely glanced at him, and then sauntered over to the register, followed by Neji.

"Good, because I intended for you to hear that," Naruto said to himself and trotted along behind his friends, receiving yet another look from the girl at the register, whose angry stare was still telling him to beat it. Gaara tossed a few hundred dollar bills at her carelessly and began to leave the store. On the way out, Naruto childishly stuck out his tongue at the girl when she was not paying attention. But the girl who he had mistaken to be Neji earlier saw it, stared at him, and uttered the word 'freak' under her breath.

Naruto watched as Neji and Gaara exited the store and he returned his attention to getting out of this place. He was about to leave when he saw a black shirt that, oddly enough, looked just like Sasuke's, except without the weird symbol (that resembled a lollipop) sewn onto one sleeve. He stopped and walked up to the shirt, inspecting it, and thinking of Sasuke. He had not seen him in about two weeks, except for when he encountered him on campus. The bastard would not even glare at Naruto and would ignore him as he walked on. It was like they had never met, which bothered Naruto. He was trying to be friendly, damnit. He actually liked Sasuke and wanted to hang out with him sometime. He had even told Sasuke that, but that ended with him getting kicked out. But being the ever so determined blond that he is, Naruto was not about to give up anytime soon. His eyes skimmed over some more clothing and he figured this was the kind of place that Sasuke would shop, and maybe getting him something would make him like Naruto more. Naruto yanked some things that he thought Sasuke might like off of a rack and started to look at them, not noticing that Gaara and Neji were waiting for him outside, and a certain redhead was starting grow impatient.

"What are you doing?" He heard Gaara's calm voice ask.

Naruto looked at him for a moment, wondering what the problem was. Maybe he was mad because he could have stayed longer and bought more clothes. Even if they were friends and somewhat alike, Gaara was hard to interpret and understand at times. Naruto still had not answered Gaara. The redhead did not budge, eyeing him and keeping his arms loosely crossed across his chest.

"Oh, I'm just looking for something that that bastard Sasuke might like. He doesn't seem to be warming up to me, so maybe if I got him something nice he'll like me better. Don't you think so?" Naruto smiled, carefree and innocent. He began to browse through the racks again and he heard the shuffling of feet behind him, followed by an aggravated grunt, but Gaara did not say anything. Naruto mumbled and continued to look around. Gaara must have really wanted to shop some more.

"Reasonable enough, but shouldn't you leave him alone?" Naruto jumped, startled, and twisted to face Neji. He sighed and calmed down, wondering how it was possible for Neji to move so quickly and silently. A few seconds ago he had stood outside of the store.

"Don't do that…" Naruto muttered and ran a hand through his hair. He exhaled, continued to look through the clothes, and when he looked to where Gaara had been standing, he was no longer there. Naruto had not heard him go anywhere either, so he just assumed that Gaara became annoyed (It was not like it would be apparent in his expression, since it varied from calm, 'I don't care', emotionless stare, or the 'this-is-boring-so-I'm-going-to-kill-you-for-fun' stare) and left the store to wander around until he found something to occupy himself with, or until Ino ambushed him spontaneously from a store.

"You should just leave him alone, you know. He has his own things to do, and if you do give him a gift you'll just be wasting your money, since Sasuke will probably put it in his paper shredder," Neji advised in superior tone, since he was more experienced in dealing with the subject of Sasuke. He crossed his arms and leaned on one leg, waiting for Naruto to give up. Naruto glared at his friend from the corner of his eye and grunted with exasperation, then pulled himself away from the item he was looking at and walked away without putting up much of a fight. He was not in the mood to be a hardass today. Neji scoffed and trailed after Naruto until they exited the store. They searched the mall together, looking for their three other friends.

They walked all over the Konoha Mall, checking every girly fashion store in sight for Sakura and Ino. Naruto did not know why they had bothered to make the mall so large, but he guessed it was because so many wealthy people lived in the secluded Californian City. Neji was becoming annoyed, but nonetheless he remained calm and continued to search. In contrast, Naruto was on the verge of exploding with impatience. He came to the conclusion that friends should not split up in such a large place. Neji came to a halt in front of Versace and looked around for a moment. Naruto rushed to catch up with his friend, and looked around as well, since he knew that Neji had a talent for sensing the presence of other people.

Neji took a deep breath before revealing his conclusion. "I have no idea where they are. We checked every expensive fashion store in this mall, and it's unlike them to leave without us," Neji said, resting his hand on his chin thoughtfully. He closed his eyes whilst Naruto sighed loudly and sagged over, exasperated and disappointed.

"You're usually so good at finding people, Nej. We went through all that and ran all over this place and you can't find them? And what about Gaara? I mean…why are we looking for the girls and not him…?" He searched the area around him, determined to keep on looking for them. Neji turned around, looked at his friend briefly, and sighed. Naruto did have his moments, but he still was not the sharpest orange crayon in the box.

"Simple. For one, Ino and Sakura are females. If you leave them unsupervised in the mall, they'll be here until they're forced out when all the stores close, or in other words, they will literally shop until they drop. Gaara, I don't think we have to worry about…" He trailed off, mumbling something incoherently Naruto did not bother to catch. Naruto spun the string of his bag around his finger, swinging his bag nearly over his head with effortless movements.

"Unless with his new-found womanhood he decides to shop till he drops, even if that'd be kinda weird…weird even for Gaara," Naruto commented, using his foxy grin for the first time today. He had been feeling somewhat off lately and was not as often in the mood to use it anymore.

Neji snickered lightly and warmly grinned at his friend. He opened his mouth to suggest that they should be going to other stores to look for Ino and Sakura when he heard a familiar happy and high-pitched squeal come from inside of Versace. Naruto stared at the entrance questioningly, and then smiled when he realized to whom the squeal belonged.

"Naruto-kun and Neji-san! 'Sup?" Ino exclaimed in her usual cheery voice, emerging from the inside of Versace, carrying several bags from a number of stores. She greeted each of them with a peck on the cheek. Naruto laughed at his friend and Neji wiped his cheek, seeming disgusted. It did not last though; his serious expression faltered and the corners of his lips turned upwards in a reserved smile. Ino threw her arms around them and dragged them together.

"Hey, Ino," Neji greeted.

"Yeah, hi and all, but what's with the honorifics, huh? Since when have you bothered to learn anything about your background? And why'd you call Neji 'san' and me just 'kun'?" Naruto put on a pout but it was obvious that his eyes were smiling. Ino smiled at him mischievously and directed her full attention at Naruto, and Neji was finally able to break free from her hold, much to his relief. He stood a safe distance away, watching with a raised eyebrow.

"What, are you jealous, Naruto-kun?" She giggled and flicked her long, silky ponytail. Naruto grinned and started to laugh, and Neji smirked.

"Ino, you pig! Stop flirting with my boyfriend!" Naruto turned his head to see his pink-haired girlfriend fuming and shooting death glares towards her best friend. Naruto sighed in fake-annoyance as Sakura growled and pulled Ino away from him. Ino just stuck out her tongue and skipped off, swinging her innumerable amount of shopping bags. His girlfriend then latched onto his arm possessively and hugged him tightly. Naruto smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Sakura." He paused and leaned down so he could place a kiss on her pink lips, and she gladly returned it. "Why don't you have a massive amount of shopping bags stuffed around your arms like Ino does?"

"Ino," Sakura scoffed, making a face at her friend when she was not looking. Ino was preoccupied with ranting on about something trivial to Neji, who was throwing them a 'save me please' look. The couple laughed and Sakura continued. "That pig. Unlike her, I try not to spend so much money," she stated haughtily. "And I already have enough clothes that I'm running out of space in my damn closet." Sakura added in a voice more muted than her usual one, almost bashfully, but looked up at Naruto and smiled at him warmly.

"That's new. You usually spend like there's no tomorrow. Neji did mention something about you two shopping 'till ya dropped," Naruto said cheerfully and smiled brightly, expecting his girlfriend to become angry and go on a rampage. She growled, released his arm, and made an attempt to whack him over the head as she always did, but he expertly dodged out of her reach and walked ahead.

"What do you know? I'm free now!" Naruto announced and grinned like an idiot. Sakura crossed her arms, huffed, and then firmly placed her hands on her hips. She gave him the angry 'you're-gonna-get-it-later' look that only overly-possessive girlfriends could pull off.

Naruto and his friends walked towards the exit of the mall, looking around for Gaara before they got impatient enough to leave without him. Naruto did not think that was particularly nice, but he did not have much of a patience either and was not one that was up for waiting all day. He yawned lazily and pushed his floppy bangs out of his face, and to his dismay they fell back over his eyes again. Besides, Naruto had things to do. Namely, bother Sasuke Uchiha to death, or preferably until he opened his dorm's door, so that they could just sit and talk, in a friendly, non-threatening manner.

* * *

Naruto groaned, sat on his desk, and buried his head into his arms. He had a bad case of the Mondays today. He did not even know why he had decided to take a class so early in the morning, especially on his least favorite day of the week, but he did not have much of a choice. He could not take classes in the evening because that was when he and his friends usually went out and spent the night in the more urban part of town. They typically ended up staying out late at a club, and then headed to some random person's estate for the after party. It was not exactly helping his grades, and he hardly had time to study, because that got in the way of partying and surfing. That only made his case of the Mondays even worse. He groaned and wanted to leave this class, so he just yawned, put his head down, and began to nod off.

Professor Hatake did not seem to notice, since it was one of those 'study sessions' that he held in the class. In other words, he allowed people to do whatever they wanted (though the smarter portion of the class actually did study) while he sat there with a slight blush on his face, reading his strange, little, orange books. At the beginning of the semester, curiosity had gotten the best of Naruto, and he ended up taking a quick peek at his professor's books, which left him mentally disturbed whenever he was around his porn-reading professor for two weeks. Not to mention rumors started flying around that Professor Hatake would get fired just like the college's old child-molesting, (even thought they were legal adults) Michael Jackson look-alike professor.

Professor Hatake must have been engrossed in his book since Naruto sat in the front of the class, still trying to get over his Mondays with a quick nap. He still did not notice anything. Naruto rested his head on his clean desk (formerly belonging to the kid who had gotten hit with the meter stick), and he was happy to have a non-destroyed one, even if he kind of missed reading all the interesting things on his old one when he was bored. People all around him were chatting with no concern over the level of their voices (not like he ever had concern on the volume of his own voice either), some students started having a paper-airplane and pencil tossing contest across the class, and numerous other objects were flying over his head. It was an odd sight to be seen in college freshman classroom, but they had than enough time to get their work done in class since Professor Hatake did not lecture much.

As Naruto finally gave up on sleeping, he wondered where he would end up sitting when that kid came back from the hospital or wherever he went, since he apparently got a minor concussion from hitting a piece of metal from the desk, fractured his wrist, and his sources claimed that he had switched out of this class because of that. Although, as long as Naruto had a desk that was not crappy, he was satisfied.

Professor Hatake finally glanced up from his book and dismissed the class after taking a quick glance at the clock, then stuck his nose back into his book immediately after. Usually Naruto would try to get a hold of Sasuke, since they shared this class together, and the Uchiha would basically sprint out of the room. That did not happen today, though, since the Monday's were still taking a drastic effect on Naruto. Naruto rubbed his eyes sleepily and began to proceed with the rest of his day, which included meeting up with his friends for two hours, attending another class, and then hitting the beach later. He was halfway out the door and still in a daze when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and stared grumpily at the person who dared to bug him on a Monday.

"Yo!" Professor Hatake greeted in his usual cheery tone and he made his usual happy-eye curves. Naruto grunted at his gray-haired professor in recognition, but his teacher got the message he was trying to send through mumbles, nonetheless.

"Naruto, I was wondering if you could stay after class a bit with me. We need to talk about something very important," he said sternly and released the grip on his shoulder, then dragged himself to his chair. The college professor sat down and spun around in a circle in his chair, then neatly folded his arms on his desk. Naruto walked back to the front of the class in a very similar manner, except without the chair-spinning or arm-folding, and collapsed into a desk and yawned, waiting to hear what was so important. Professor Hatake rocked back and forth in his chair and looked Naruto straight in the eyes to make sure that he was paying attention.

"Listen, Naruto, I don't really like to be the one to tell you this, and it isn't even really part of my job description to baby you, since you're not in high school anymore. But I don't want you to fail this class. Your final grade is composed of only a few tests and essays, and though this class is curved, based on your results of your first test, you aren't doing well. At all."

Naruto nodded sleepily and his head started titling to one side. His head started to hurt, and he wondered if he still had a hangover from last night. He was not paying attention to what his teacher was saying and was in the middle of spacing out, so he decided that nodding along and going with it would be the best choice until he could get out of there. Professor Hatake had said it was important, and he knew he should be listening, but then again, the guy held importance in things such as attaining the latest book in the perverted series, Icha Icha Paradise.

The college professor sighed, took out his meter stick, and slapped it against Naruto's desk. He woke up in a jolt, looking at him with alarmed eyes. He then calmed down a bit, realizing what was going on. Naruto's eyes narrowed, becoming slightly angry. "What?" He growled and crossed his arms.

"Pay attention, Naruto. You're failing miserably and even you can see that isn't good. I know you're not stupid, and if you just try a little harder and lay off the partying, you can probably pass, since it's still early in the semester," the professor said. Naruto stared at him, somewhat surprised. He had not thought that he was doing that bad. He never did particularly well in school, nor was he the brightest child, but he was certainly not a complete dumbass. He groaned and slunk down in his chair, trying to convince himself that he was not doing so horribly, and that it would be easy to pass. He would just need to try harder, but that did not mean he had to stop partying.

"Okay, okay. I promise I'll try harder, Professor Hatake, because really, I'm not stupid or anything." Naruto stood, waltzed out of the room, and sighed, finally happy to be out of there. Professor Hatake looked after him with uncertainty, unable to tell whether the boy was serious about this or not. It was always hard to tell with Naruto, even if he had calmed down and matured a bit since the first time they had met.

"Wait, Naruto," he called and Naruto stopped, looking annoyed. He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Professor Hatake?" Naruto asked with heavy sarcasm. The professor sighed and gave him a skeptical look, indicating that he was not in the mood for any wiseacre cracks at the moment. He too wanted to be somewhere else doing something else, such as going home or to a coffee shop to read Icha Icha Paradise; but this was necessary and he would feel guilty if he watched his student fail without attempting to aide him.

"Are you really serious about this?" He asked in a voice that allowed no nonsense. Even if he was lazy and a favorite among the professors, he had moments in which he was strict. "Because if you can't study well enough on your own, I suggest that you find someone to help you out."

"You mean a tutor?" Naruto asked, and his voice came out a little whinier than he had intended. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair; that was becoming a habit of his. "Don't underestimate me, Kakashi-sensei. I keep my promises, alright?" Naruto told him, grinning.

Kakashi sighed and his silver hair fell over his face. At least he finally seemed serious and determined. "Fine, fine, now shoo." He gestured towards the door, telling him to scram. Naruto grinned and waved before disappearing into the hall.

* * *

Naruto took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, trying to organize his thoughts. He knew he could do this, he was sure that he could. He knew that he was not that stupid, but he could not remember the last time studying was so difficult. Or the last time he studied, for that matter. It had never felt necessary. He thought that it was good enough just listening to Kakashi ramble on during class, but apparently he had been wrong. It was college, not high school, even if he had only been in it for barely a month. It was apparent that he would need to do this once in a while in order to graduate.

He shuffled the papers in front of him and tried to read all the notes he had taken. Naruto sighed and kept on trying, even though it was getting hard to keep his attention on a dull, boring, piece of paper. His hand writing was not all too neat either, so studying appealed to him even less. He wondered what his motivation was, and he answered himself with 'duh, you need to graduate college so you don't end up a bum on the streets'. But that still did not change the fact that it was boring. He figured a little music would not hurt and that it would perhaps ease his mind, so he turned on his stereo.

Naruto tried to study for about five more minutes. The music was starting to get distracting, and Naruto would tap his foot or hum along with the song that was playing as he became increasingly disinterested in studying, as if he had been interested in it at all to begin with, unfortunately for him. Naruto actually was not so sure if it was unfortunate for himself, though, because he sure as hell did not enjoy learning about something he would never use, but then again, he did not like the idea of being homeless either. He wondered why he turned the music on in the first place, since it was not doing any good, and he probably knew that when he turned it on.

Naruto sighed and decided to leave the studying for later, whenever that may be. He blasted the radio as loud as it could go (since no one really lived in the dorms, Naruto figured who would even care?), flopped onto the bottom bunk of his bed, and stuffed his face into the pillow, his mop of golden hair covering his face. He yawned and laid there for a while longer, listening to the various types of music the stations played, and somehow found himself falling asleep, despite the volume of the music. He had not gotten much sleep last night, though. Naruto yawned again, shifting around, and remembered that Sasuke lived right down the hall. He was probably being disturbed by the blaring music. Naruto smiled and finally fell asleep.

* * *

He thought that he had finally gotten rid of him. That…that freak stalker. It was not like he actually stalked him, but when they just happened to see each other he would act friendly and start waving like they were the best of friends. He loathed the moments when they crossed paths on campus, because he did not want to associate himself with him. He did not even deserve a glare, or a glance, or any recognition for that matter. So, he solved his problem by ignoring him, so it would seem like that stalker was waving to no one and that he was just some lunatic. Yes, Sasuke liked the idea of that.

He had figured that he would avoid Naruto for the rest of his time at community college. Sasuke never would have expected that Naruto, the most well-known person on campus, would want to be friends with him. It was just strange. The entire thing concerning the bet had merely surprised him, and after Sasuke had snatched himself a free meal, he assumed that they never would see each other again, thus returning to their respective social classes. He had not expected to be bugged constantly for the last two weeks about becoming friends, either. It was kind of like, thanks, but no thanks. Or just plain no without the thanks.

Both he and Naruto knew that Sasuke was essentially antisocial and asexual, yet somehow that Uzumaki kid expected that Sasuke would want to befriend him.

It was not as if Sasuke was so unsociable that he had never had a friend before, but that was before he had become so withdrawn. He did not mind the company of others once in a while, but he preferred to be alone. To him, nothing was beneficial about having someone follow him and bother him. The person could not help him, nor could they understand him at all. When Sasuke was alone, he could think without anyone bothering him and he could enjoy having his own space. It would be pleasant and peaceful. Though, he had to admit that always being alone was somewhat lonely.

Sasuke was in the midst of a reverie, lying on the bottom bunk of his bed and staring at the space above him, when he heard a distant rumble coming from his left. He stared at the wall beside him for a second and the noise significantly increased in volume. Sasuke covered his ears, got off the bed, and walked out of his room towards the source of the music. His dark eyes narrowed when he recognized that he was standing outside of Naruto's dorm; he knew that this was the source of the obnoxious noise. He really, really did not want to get himself in a mess with that idiot, so he concluded that he would enter, turn off the music, and immediately leave without saying a word.

Sasuke decided that knocking on the door was out of the question, since someone would be unable to hear their own thoughts with music this loud. He smirked when he thought about kicking the door down. It seemed fun and perhaps Naruto would hate him if he did that, therefore diminishing the chance of Naruto wanting to befriend him. Somewhat to his surprise, Sasuke twisted the doorknob and found it unlocked. He walked in, expecting to find a grinning Naruto who was lying lazily on the floor and deliberately trying to annoy him. Instead, he found Naruto dead asleep in the bed. Maybe if Sasuke was lucky, he was dead.

He quickly moved across the room to where the large stereo was located, pressed the button which he hoped controlled the power, and thankfully, the horrid nuisance stopped. He heard shuffling behind him and Sasuke turned around to see Naruto rolling over in his sleep. He hugged his pillow, mumbled some incoherent words, and drool seeped out of his mouth which he had left open. Sasuke stared at scene in front of him with slight distaste, and then headed towards the door.

"Stupid dobe," he murmured under his breath. Sasuke took one quick glance at the sleeping idiot before he left. Naruto had further buried his face into the pillow. He slept silently, which Sasuke had not anticipated, since he figured that Naruto would be obnoxious even in his sleep and snore. But he looked quite the opposite, actually; peaceful, tolerable, and semi-cute with his hair hanging all over his face. Sasuke erased that thought from his mind vehemently until he noticed that the big idiot was beginning to stir. Naruto sat up with a stretch, popped open one blue eye, and sleepily rubbed his other one.

"What happened to the music….?" He asked groggily. He yawned and stretched again, then laxly slugged over and observed his surroundings. He stared at the stereo, then he stared at Sasuke, who seemed frozen in place, silently hoping that Naruto would do like a dobe and go back to sleep. Naruto suddenly became wide-awake and stared at Sasuke with suspicion.

"Sasuke? What the fuck are you doing in my dorm?" He demanded and stood up, glaring at him, annoyed that he had interrupted his nap. He had been having a hell of a dream, too. Sasuke regarded Naruto for a moment before his eyes narrowed into a harsh glare.

"What the fuck are you doing, you dobe? You had the radio blasting and you somehow nodded off to that noise, and I came here to turn it off. Apparently you even need to find a way to be obnoxious while you're sleeping." He crossed his arms and continued his Uchiha Death Glare. He was going to ask how Naruto managed to sleep through that in the first place, but he decided not to mention it. He did not want to appear curious. Naruto returned an equally forceful glare, though it was more irritated than deadly.

"I am so not obnoxious," Naruto insisted. He threw himself back onto the bed, crossed his arms behind his head, and stared at the ceiling before closing his eyes. Sasuke rolled his eyes and made no move to go anywhere. After several seconds, Naruto sat up, glared at him, and made a shooing motion with his hands in the direction of the door.

"Are you going to leave or what? Can't you see I'm studying, you bastard?" Naruto growled and pointed to the papers scattered across the floor, showing Sasuke that he had proof that that was indeed what he was doing. Just not at that very moment.

Sasuke scoffed as if he was incredulous. "What's up with you? Usually you go around being a freak stalker, begging to be my friend, you loser." He raised a thin black eyebrow at him and smirked, waiting to see what the dobe would say in response. Naruto looked at him with anger, dropped down onto the floor, and started to gather his papers.

"I'm not the one who's at the bottom of the social ladder. And like I said, I'm studying," he said firmly. He made several sharp gestures towards the papers that were now on his lap. He glared at Sasuke, and then looked at his papers like he was deeply engrossed in studying. 'Like' indeed, since Naruto was bored as hell with this review-what-you-have-learned crap. So he was pretending, but he did not consider it to be that important. Sasuke was not stupid enough to think that Naruto truly was studying, though.

"I'm not the one who's trying to commit social suicide by trying to befriend someone at the bottom of the ladder, idiot." Sasuke almost chuckled when he saw Naruto's expression in response to what he had said. Almost. Naruto grunted, tossed the papers away from himself, and they fluttered in the air around him before gently descending onto the blue carpet.

"Well, you're oddly talkative today, aren't you?" Naruto said huffily and crossed his arms. He looked away and pouted. Sasuke just stared. He could not grasp how someone who could act so childish was so popular.

"You know what? You just ruined my studying mood," Naruto said, but at least he had an excuse to ditch it for a while. Meaning, maybe a few days.

"That's not studying," Sasuke stated blatantly.

"So, what do you care? It's boring but I need to pass, and you should leave since I'm not in the mood to deal with you and your insulting comments, which don't help at all, by the way," Naruto said. He sighed, feeling somewhat defeated, but nonetheless decided to pick up the papers. He started to read them once more, but his mind was somewhere else and he did not put his heart into it. Sasuke watched him for a few seconds and thought about leaving for a moment, unsure of why he was still there. He did not want to be here in the first place, and Naruto did not want him here either, so he saw no point in staying. His legs did not move and his mouth started to instead. Somehow, seeing Naruto struggle, trying to become better, reminded him of someone he once knew.

"If you want to, I can tutor you." Naruto stopped looking through the papers and gawked at him, surprised that the Sasuke Uchiha was offering him help. It was beyond odd, and not to mention quite random. It did not make any sense to Naruto, but it was not like he cared that much. Sasuke offered, and he needed to pass, no questions asked. He slowly nodded his head without taking his eyes off him.

"Alright. We start now," Sasuke said and took a seat next to Naruto, who happily welcomed his new tutor.

* * *

Sakura was having a great time. She and her friends were hanging out together and lying around lazily on Neji's expensive, black, leather couches in his family's mansion. One of the younger butlers came by and handed her another apple martini while she thanked him. She loved how Neji had bribed some of the younger servants here into allowing them to drink freely in the house, without his father's knowledge, of course. Though no one would be discouraged from continuing or would even care if he found out. Sakura laughed at the funny things that Ino said, at the seemingly insulting comments that Gaara made, and at how Neji looked so odd since he was starting to become drunk. They all were becoming drunk. Ino started to sing along with the music that was coming from the Hyuuga's state of the art sound system and dragged Gaara into it.

They all had planned to hang out after class today, but Naruto had never showed up. Sakura was more than disappointed that he did not come, and she was worried, too, but she tried not to let it show. Sakura laughed and acted as if nothing was bothering her, and so far no one seemed to notice. She assumed that they all forgot about how she had been feeling neglected lately, and she was somewhat thankful for that. She chugged down her drink and then ordered a strawberry daiquiri from a servant who was passing by. She decided to drown herself in alcohol and leave her troubles for the morning after her hangover disappeared.

Neji's cell phone rang. He tossed his drink aside and shuffled through the pocket of his pants, feeling around for his phone. Ino continued to bother Gaara, who looked the most sober out of all of them. He tried to get Ino and her endless, drunken flirting away from him. Sakura figured she was the only one who had noticed the cell phone ring over the alcohol consuming and music. Neji picked up the black phone and pressed it to his ear.

"Hello?" Sakura could barely hear what was he was saying, but she was able to read his lips. She finished her daiquiri and paid close attention. Neji nodded and said something that she did not catch, but she was sure that he had said 'Naruto' at the end. The pink-haired girl perked up, walked over to Neji, and sat beside him.

"Was that Naruto?" She asked hopefully. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and nodded, knowing what she really was asking.

"If you're wondering where he is, he claims that he's studying with Sasuke." Neji said it like it was nothing, his tone dismissive. Maybe it was nothing. He leaned back into the leather couch, listened to the music, and sipped his drink. Sakura fell back into the couch, defeated. Naruto was hanging out with that antisocial loser, Sasuke Uchiha. She had no idea why they would be hanging out. It was fairly evident that kid was gorgeous, but no one dared to get close to him in fear of being ripped apart. Plus, Sakura had heard that he was in a mental institute for a few years when he was younger. She knew Naruto was an idiot, but not as much as he used to be, since he had matured over the years. Once more, she asked herself how the hell they could be hanging out.

She dragged herself off of the couch and walked towards the front door, swatting away all of the falsely polite butlers and maids that approached her. Even if Sakura was not one hundred percent, she still could open a goddamn door, no matter how gratuitously huge it was. She walked out the door; she was certain that everyone was too involved in doing their own thing or too heavily intoxicated (Ino) to notice that she had left. After she had reached her destination, a bar, Sakura did not know why she had left. She would do the same thing here that she did at Neji's mansion; drown all her worries with alcohol. She opened the door and the small bell at the top jingled. A man in a dark trench coat stepped out and bumped into her in the process. She just stared at him dizzily.

"Watch it, dude," Sakura murmured, annoyed. He stopped and glanced at the pretty, pink-haired girl in front of him with his dark, calm eyes. Suddenly, they flashed dangerously, but they returned to normal so quickly that Sakura was uncertain if she had seen it at all. He moved out of the way and headed in the opposite direction from which she came. As he passed, she got a glimpse of a pearl-handed pistol neatly positioned in a gun holder attached to his belt. Sakura's eyes widened considerably. She immediately took back what she had said to him earlier.

"Excuse me," he said politely. He walked down the sidewalk and disappeared into the street, using the crosswalk. A car passed and he was gone. That man sent shivers down Sakura's spine. He looked oddly familiar, and she thought perhaps it might be his dark hair. She could not pinpoint it. She dismissed it, stepped into the bar, and gasped. People were stretched across the floor, badly beaten, blood dripping from most of their mouths. Sakura was mortified. She glanced back to where he previously stood and she shivered at the thought of the danger in which she had been. She wondered what type of person would do such a thing, and then she realized that she did not want to know.

Sakura turned away from the scene before her, exited the bar, and began to walk in the direction from which she came, her mind burying what she had just witnessed.

* * *

(A/N): For those of you who want me to make their relationship pick up pace and go along quickly, I assure you that that is definitely not happening. This is a slow-moving shounen-ai fic, and something called love is developing. Not lust. Well, not yet…but do not fret, the NaruSaku shall be destroyed within the next two chapters. Be excited. :P (this chapter was really long O.o)

Also, can anyone guess which two characters from Naruto we got the slightest glimpse of in this chapter? Whoever guesses both right gets a cookie! Not like it's that hard to guess or anything…and it's not like I have cookies either…but I can give you imaginary cookies...yeah, that works.


	4. Bear Hugs

For anyone who had guessed, the two characters I sneaked in/mentioned last chapter were Orochimaru and Kin. I don't think that anyone guessed both correctly, though. :P

This chapter is pretty short, considering the usual length of my chapters…don't worry! I promise you a long plot-building chappie next :3

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I will never ever own Naruto.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, shounen-ai/yaoi, more Itachi-ness, etc.

_Review! Do it!_

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR: BEAR HUGS**

Naruto was very thankful that Sasuke had decided to help him with his schoolwork. He thought that he was making progress in all of his classes, especially in that of Professor Hatake. Also, he was rather confident that he was making progress with his and Sasuke's friendship, though he was uncertain if he could even call it that. Being friends with someone like Sasuke was strange, since his way of expressing emotion included things such as making nasty side comments, and Naruto would have to interpret it through his body language and his eyes. Naruto was sure that he would soon be fluent in the language of Sasuke Uchiha, because they had begun to spend plenty of time with each other to help the blond with his studies. Even if, he realized, sometimes they argued about nothing instead of studying. He assumed that was Sasuke's idea of 'hanging out'. So, Naruto could now surmise safely that they were friends.

Sakura did not seem to like the idea of a friendship between the two, so she had been clingier than usual. Naruto did not understand why, though, and her actions usually confused him. But then again, most things that were not ramen, surfing, and partying confused him. In contrast, Neji made no comment about their friendship, Gaara could not have cared less, and Ino was her usual flirty and hyper self, so Naruto saw no problem there.

Naruto sat on the blue carpet of his dorm cross-legged, pulled out his papers, and began to study. He was satisfied with the results of this tutoring, because he was becoming less tempted to turn on distracting things, such as the television, or the stereo. The latter would not be all that distracting, though, unless he started to sing along. But if he did, he knew that he would hear Sasuke's voice in the back of his mind, repeating the word 'dobe', telling him to focus. Naruto wondered why Sasuke even called him that, for he was certain that he was not a dobe.

Perhaps it was not working as well as Naruto thought. He soon found himself turning on the television that sat parallel to his bed. He decided to turn on the local news channel for Konoha City, in order to silence Sasuke's imagined nagging, since he figured it was not as bad as watching, for example, Comedy Central or MTV. Now Sasuke was starting to remind him of his 8th grade teacher, Iruka, with all that nagging.

His blue eyes scanned over the words on his paper for a bit longer, and after reviewing the same thing several times, he grew bored, his eyelids drooping. Naruto rested his chin on his hand and continued to study, but his head shot up and he glanced around when he heard someone say 'Uchiha'. He searched for what the source of the word could be, hoping that he was not just hearing things. He heard the word again, turned his head towards the television, and stared at it for a moment before hearing it again. A reporter was standing in front of a bar with people sprawled haphazardly across the floor inside. Naruto leaned towards the TV to get a better view and raised the volume with the remote control.

"With the recent sightings, rumors that Itachi Uchiha is once more on the loose have been proven true. He recently escaped a high-security prison in southern California, though the authorities had hesitated to release this information to the public, in hope of quickly apprehending Uchiha. He is being pursued Konoha City's best police officers, as well as the FBI, but he is exceptionally hard to track, and unfortunately they are failing to keep up with the escaped convict…"

The reporter continued on but Naruto was no longer paying attention. That man and Sasuke shared the same name, and Naruto wondered if they were related. If that was the case, he wondered if Sasuke had any other family in the city that was not a criminal. His thoughts lingered on why Sasuke had never mentioned it. Naruto dismissed it. No one would approach someone and say that his weasel of a family member had been imprisoned. Naruto did not even know if they were related, they could just share a common surname. He knew that he could not jump to conclusions. Looking for answers, he turned his attention back to the television.

"Behind me is a popular bar in Konoha City, where several innocent bystanders were beaten and now lie here across the floor. Our police force has identified that there were at least twelve people beaten mercilessly, as the owner of the bar says to have witnessed, but with minimal effort and without a change in expression on the suspect's part. Other witnesses state that a drunken man, whose name has been withheld, started a riot with the suspect, preventing him from leaving the bar without the fight he demanded. After punching the man out of the way, several other drunken men became outraged at Uchiha. The local police force is uncertain as to why Uchiha escaped suddenly, returning to his hometown, and of his motive as well. After the incident ten years ago, in which he murdered…"

Naruto shut off the television, deciding that he had heard enough. All they spoke of was the outbreak at the bar, and did not mention anything about the weasel having relatives, but at least he was from Konoha City, and that was a place to start. During the report, they had shown brief footage of a three second capturing of the said suspect. All Naruto could make out was a flash of black against what seemed to be skin and dark eyes, then the whole screen went black and 'Itachi' was gone. Naruto did note that he had dark hair and dark eyes, much like Sasuke. He was not sure if this was something that he should bother Sasuke about, but Naruto's insatiable curiosity got the best of him. He swung open the door to his dorm and walked down the hall, towards Sasuke's room.

He slammed his fist on the door and knocked loudly, waiting for him to come and answer the door. If Sasuke felt like letting him in, that is, or else Naruto would have to get around to breaking the door down. After a few minutes of impatiently waiting and the occasional threat or whine from Naruto, the door finally opened. Sasuke grumbled and then blinked, looking somewhat surprised to see Naruto there, or at least as surprised as he could manage to look. Naruto did not understand Sasuke's slight surprise, because no one else would ever be at his door. Sasuke blinked stared at Naruto with his coal eyes for a moment before speaking.

"Dobe? What are you doing here? We don't have any studying scheduled for today, you idiot," he grumbled and leaned against the door frame, forbidding Naruto entrance. Usually the blond would have crossed his arms and murmured some nasty comment about Sasuke under his breath, but he decided against it today. If Naruto planned to ask him about a possible relative who was a felon, insulting Sasuke was not a good idea. He thought that Sasuke may be sensitive about it, but he was uncertain. It was Sasuke, after all. Naruto sighed and kept himself from saying anything that could be considered mean.

"Uh...I-I know…Hey, Sasuke…Do you by any chance have some, um, relatives, that, uh...I don't know…might be in town at the moment?" Naruto asked, uncertain of himself, and shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts. He hung his head somewhat low as he waited for Sasuke to reply, and for a short period of time that felt much longer than it actually was, Sasuke said nothing. Naruto's bangs fell gently onto his face, briefly covering his eyes, and he looked up, waiting for some sort of response from Sasuke. He stood there idly, looking at the floor, and seemed to be thinking rather hard. He was considering whether or not he should let Naruto in and tell him, or chase him away instead. But Naruto's statement about a relative residing in town piqued his interest.

"I don't have any relatives in town at the moment, not that I know of, at least," Sasuke responded. He hoped silently that Naruto would answer the question he was asking himself without having to ask it. Naruto stared at him for a moment.

"Oh…well, I was just wondering because I recently saw something on the news about some guy named Itachi Uchiha. I figured since you guys had the same last name, you might be related."

"Dobe, just because two people share the same last name, that does not automatically mean they are related," Sasuke retorted in a tone that came out more precariously than he had intended. He was certain that Naruto heard the weakness in his voice, and he was uncertain of what to do next. Naruto looked at him and did not seem fazed by the difference in Sasuke's voice, but his eyes seemed to darken. Sasuke scoffed to himself, thinking how much of an idiot Naruto had to be to miss that.

"But he looked a lot like you. He had black hair and dark eyes…" Naruto said, even though in a sense he was lying. Many people could have that combination of hair and eye color, and Naruto had not even seen the man's face clearly. He did not know why he was even mentioning this. It could possibly lead him to getting something out of Sasuke, or maybe just making himself look like an idiot. Though the latter would not be that bad, because the ignorant bastard thought that twenty-four seven anyway.

Sasuke remained silent. He bowed his head so that his raven hair covered his eyes and Naruto could not see them. His lips formed into a thin line. Within his mind, a battle raged between two different options; whether or not he should let Naruto inside. If he did, there was nothing to achieve from it. Sasuke was unsure of how Naruto would react if he told him about his childhood conflicts, to put it nicely, and he did not want to put him in an awkward position. He stopped himself at that thought. He could hardly believe that he had been considering Naruto's reactions and feelings, no matter how briefly. Sasuke would not care, or better put, he should not. They were not friends, not in any way, shape or form. They were just a little more than acquaintances, and had a tutor-student relationship. Not a friendship. Naruto, of course, begged to differ.

He watched as Sasuke stepped aside and calmly held the doorknob, signaling to Naruto that he could enter his dorm. Naruto strolled right in past his said friend and sat on the bottom bunk of Sasuke's bed. He crossed his arms and waited for Sasuke to shut the door, and then Sasuke walked over to Naruto and took a seat beside him. Naruto turned to face him, looking at him with anticipation, leaned back onto the peachy pillow, and threw his arms behind his head. He then stared at him, waiting for him to begin. Sasuke remained silent, still deciding whether or not he should say anything, but it was difficult to tell that he was having a dispute within himself. His face appeared apathetic as always. Naruto stared at him incessantly.

"So…" Sasuke started, making sure that his voice held its stability. "You want to know about my brother, Itachi, right?" He asked, almost smirking at Naruto when he said those words. Naruto remembered the name from the newscast and nodded slightly, still in thought.

"Yeah, that's him," Naruto said without looking directly at Sasuke. He stared at the ceiling and thoughtfully placed his hand on his chin, trying to recall every detail he caught from the news report. Sasuke sighed inwardly. He was hoping that Naruto would innocently ask questions, so that he would just have to answer, and not necessarily tell him something as if he wanted to. But he did not want to leave the conversation shriveled and lingering in the air, either.

"So, what did you hear on the newscast, exactly?" Sasuke inquired with feigned indifference. He did not want dive directly into this subject, and somehow the thought of letting Naruto drag them into it made him feel better. It made him feel like it would be easier to tell him, even when he had no idea why was he confiding in Naruto to begin with. Neji was the only other person that knew that much about his past.

"Well…" Naruto started. Suddenly, he had second thoughts about prodding into this. It seemed somewhat rude, and most people would think that since he was such a loud-mouth brat, he never cared about being insolent, but he was not that immature. He decided to continue on, since his question was not based solely on nosiness. It was because he saw it on the news and he was curious, and that somehow made it better. Or worse. Naruto was unsure which it was.

"It said something about a high-security prison…" He decided to leave out the part about murder. Maybe Sasuke would want to answer that for him himself. Of course, Naruto did not know that Sasuke was crossing his fingers for the complete opposite to happen. Sasuke looked at everything but Naruto and there was an awkward silence. "And murder, I think…and something about a beating at a local bar in Konoha City."

"Hn." Sasuke raised his eyebrows. He laid back, placing his arms behind his head, and seemed to be taking in what Naruto just said. Or stalling. But Naruto did not see a reason as to why he would be doing either. If an elder brother committed murder, a family member should have known that already. Naruto shuffled slightly and crossed and uncrossed his legs several times. Suddenly he sighed heavily, exasperated.

"Listen, Sasuke," he said, his voice suddenly growing stronger. He looked to his upper left, seeming annoyed. "If you're not comfortable with discussing this...whatever this is, just say so. I mean, I wouldn't mind."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him and glared. Naruto just looked at him with innocent cerulean eyes. He could not keep himself from grinning wryly in response to his glare after some time, though. Sasuke kept on his emotionless face and averted his eyes from Naruto, sighing quietly.

"Do you want to hear this or not, dobe? Because if you keep this up, I'm not saying anything." Sasuke almost smirked when Naruto's face fell and he tried to pout, but it was not working out very well. Though, it was cute to watch someone like him try. Never mind, scratch that thought.

"I want to!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically and sat up straight. He smiled brightly at Sasuke, waiting for him to say something, eyes shining. Sasuke scoffed at how childish he could be, yet somehow it suited him.

Sasuke mentally prepared himself to speak. He had not talked about this in a long time; he thought of it constantly, though that only seemed to make it more difficult.

"Well, what you heard about murder was right. Of course, there needs to be a reason as to why someone was put into a high-security prison," he mumbled it so that it was barely audible, and Naruto had to slide closer just to hear.

"But you don't just go to a high-security prison for one murder, right?" Naruto asked, starting to catch onto what Sasuke was saying. Sasuke let his bangs cover his eyes and merely nodded, so lightly that Naruto thought he may have imagined it. Sasuke remained like that for several more seconds, and Naruto noticed that his fists were clenched and his shoulders were tense. He had no idea what was wrong with Sasuke. He was typically so apathetic and cold; Naruto thought that something unreasonably devastating must have occurred. Sasuke's shoulders suddenly sagged down and his grip loosened. He looked at Naruto, wearing his usual emotionless mask.

Naruto stared at the sudden change in Sasuke's demeanor and wondered if it had been a good idea to come over there. He wanted to know what was creating this strange behavior in Sasuke. Naruto looked into his obsidian eyes, searching for answers. His eyes widened when he saw a quick flash of anger and pain in his eyes, but it was so brief it might as well not have been there at all. Sasuke looked into the cerulean eyes before him.

"When I was about eight years old, my brother murdered my entire family. I was too weak to stop him, and he got away. I spent the next three years in a mental institution thanks to him, and it left me mentally scarred. After I turned eleven, the shrinks there decided that I was sane enough to be let in the real world again. Then I went into an avenger phase for a few more years. Really, I have no idea why Itachi has suddenly come back." Sasuke finished, and closed his eyes. It was unbelievable how he could sound so monotonic and level the entire time. "Now, does that answer your question, Naruto?"

Sasuke opened his eyes and gazed directly at Naruto, his face incredulously expressionless for someone who had just said such a thing. He expected Naruto to sit there, speechless, gawking at him, then pointlessly try to comfort him with words that meant nothing. He expected him to look at him with teary, blue eyes and express his pity for Sasuke. He expected him to sit there quietly and the silence would be unbelievably awkward, or Naruto going against Sasuke's realist ways and saying that could not be possible. He might have even predicted that Naruto would stand and run back rudely to his respective dorm, regretting that he had ever asked. Sasuke had no idea that Naruto would come at him with a large, lung-crushing bear hug, instead.

Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's slim frame and embraced him tightly, though he had no idea why he was doing this. Maybe because he had no idea how to react to something like this, but of course he could not claim that his body moved on its own, no matter how true that was. Naruto just knew that he acted on impulse and instinct, as he always had, but that still did not fully answer the question as to why he was hugging this person. Lost in thought, he might have accidentally forgotten to let go.

Sasuke felt a warm arm slink around him and an earthy smell engulfed him. He found that his face was in a mop of sunny, golden hair that belonged to Naruto. Sasuke sat frozen in place and his arms awkwardly hung at his sides, attached to the sides of his body. Naruto was hugging him. That was just strange, and Sasuke had no idea what to do. He began to feel the warmth of Naruto's body surround him and he wondered why Naruto had not yet let go, thus the suffocation commenced. As the dreaded human contact continued, Sasuke felt heat prickling its way up to the skin on his face. He suddenly felt intoxicated by the scent of leaves and grass and his skin began to itch. Sasuke was on the verge of twitching, blushing, and the thing that scared him the most, hugging Naruto back.

Naruto snapped out of it and came back to reality when he felt Sasuke's arms suddenly move. For a second he was surprised, since it seemed like Sasuke was making a move to embrace him in return, but then he pushed Naruto off him and jumped backwards. Naruto guessed that was not a good sign. Sasuke was relieved that his face was no longer becoming red. He straightened himself up, smoothed his now wrinkly shirt, and stared at Naruto.

"Why did you hug me, dobe?" He said it so plainly that Naruto almost had to gape. He said it like someone would say an everyday statement, such as that the sky was blue. It hardly sounded like a question. Naruto stared at Sasuke, searching for something to say. He could not find any explanation, thus saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Um, I don't know," he said, ever so astutely. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and looked him, making sure that he was using the big, blue, and irresistibly innocent eyes on him. He smiled sheepishly and Sasuke just slowly nodded his head.

"Right," Sasuke commented dryly. Naruto stopped when he realized the cute blue eyes were not working on Sasuke. He was slightly disappointed; they usually worked on Neji. So instead, he replaced them with a glare.

"Listen up. Why don't you go ahead and leave now? You have pried enough information out of me and I wouldn't be surprised if you suddenly asked what color socks I am wearing or what I ate for dinner last night," Sasuke said with his typical aloof attitude and gazed at Naruto calmly with his onyx eyes.

Naruto glared so hard at Sasuke, one would have thought that he was trying to shoot laser beams out of his eyes.

"Shut up, bastard!" Naruto shouted and stood up abruptly. Sasuke smirked, in a way relieved that the dobe was yelling at him, rather being all huggy. He sighed inwardly and glanced at Naruto, then at the door. Surprisingly, Naruto got the message and started to make his way to the door, meanwhile glancing threateningly at Sasuke one more time. The anger quickly diminished though, since once Sasuke thought he was gone, a blond head poked out from the side of the door.

"Bye, Sasuke!" He said cheerily, grinning foxily at him. Sasuke scoffed in response. Naruto sighed, exasperated, but waved at him nonetheless. He sauntered the short distance back to his own dorm as Sasuke walked to the entrance of his room and shut the door. Sasuke was alarmed to find himself on the brink of smiling after Naruto's appearance and quickly stopped himself from doing so.

* * *

Sasuke quickly gathered his things, walked out of the class from which he just had been dismissed, and headed to the class in which Naruto was located. Once he found the room, he leaned against the wall, waiting for Naruto to emerge. They had tutoring scheduled for today after their classes ended. Abruptly, the door swung open and many people flooded out of the room, separating into their respective groups, headed in different directions. His black eyes scanned over all the people, but he failed to see Naruto's sunny blond hair anywhere in the crowd. He looked again, wondering how he could have missed him when he stood out in all his orangeness.

The many people dispersed, leaving campus either permanently for the day, or temporarily to return later. Sasuke walked over to the entrance of the room and peered through the glass window on the wooden door. He saw the overgrown yellow hair and orange jacket and knew instantly that that was Naruto. He had his back turned to the door while he chatted with someone at the very back of the room. Sasuke could not identify who it was, since Naruto's form blocked the person, but he assumed it was a professor.

Sasuke became impatient and slammed his back against the wall behind him. He inwardly sighed, wondering if he should continue to wait for the dobe. The thought of leaving him there, going away, and getting on with life crossed his mind several times, and it was quite tempting. Sasuke was about to leave when something within himself told him to stay longer. Hardly anyone walked through the halls of the building, but he heard the sound of heels clicking farther down the hall, coming towards him. Most likely, it was one of those ditzy, fake girls who were part of the Naruto Fan Club (even though he was not even sure if that existed, but if it did he would not be surprised) that would walk by swinging their ridiculously expensive Prada bags with their micro-minis and that would get scared half to death when they saw Sasuke. He would not be too surprised at that, either.

He heard the thump of quick footsteps against the floor and Naruto's laughter. Sasuke murmured 'finally' under his breath. The door swung open and Naruto stepped out; Sasuke crossed his arms with annoyance.

"Finally, dobe, you took for-." Sasuke was abruptly cut off. He was overwhelmed by a familiar earthy smell and his lungs were feeling quite squished. Blond hair was once again in his face and he felt strong arms around him. Based on the facts, he could come to the conclusion that Naruto was giving him another deadly hug.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed happily. Sasuke did not speak, or more accurately, he could not, so he just wondered 'the hell Naruto was doing hugging him. He choked out a noise but Naruto did not seem to notice it. "Guess what! I got back a paper I wrote today, and I aced it, you damned bastard!" Naruto shouted elatedly and hugged him tighter, if possible. Sasuke made another choking noise and noted that the clicking of heels he previously heard stopped, probably to observe the very odd scene before them. Sasuke gasped for air and then spoke in a strangled tone.

"Na-Naruto…" He said, strained. Naruto loosened his hold on Sasuke enough to be able to see his face and smiled at him genuinely, with shining blue eyes that could rival the sky. He looked at him with a questioning, yet still jovial, expression.

"That's great, so can you let me go now?" Sasuke asked, now fully aware that a blush was threatening to appear on his cheeks. He lowered his head so that his bangs hid his face, because no Uchiha was meant to blush like that. His face was probably red by now, and he was unsure of what he was going to do when Naruto let him go.

"Oh," Naruto said, grinning sheepishly, light pink tinting his cheeks. "Sure." He let go of Sasuke and put him on the ground. Sasuke regarded his feet, since he had not even realized that he had been lifted up. As if knowing that helped his blush recede. Sasuke thought about how stupid he must have looked with his legs dangling in the air. He turned around and looked away from Naruto, waiting for his blush to retreat. Sasuke was suddenly aware of how cold he felt.

"Don't touch me so familiarly, you dumbass," Sasuke said and straightened out his dark blue shirt. Naruto glared at him with a low growl.

"According to this," he said, ostentatiously waving around the paper with an A written on it in red marker, "I am not such a dumbass after all, bastard." Naruto childishly stuck his tongue out at him and chuckled afterwards. Sasuke merely buried his hands in his pockets, angry with himself because his blush had not yet withdrawn completely. Then, he scoffed and snickered a bit, the smallest of smiles appearing on his thin lips.

"You'd still be a dumbass if it wasn't for me, so don't talk," Sasuke said and Naruto smiled in response. He was quite thankful for Sasuke's tutoring, not that he would tell him, so in his own way of being grateful, Naruto decided to keep his mouth shut for once and refrain from insults. The two headed down the hall and exited the building, completely unaware that Sakura and Ino had witnessed the whole scene.

Ino blinked her periwinkle eyes a few times before smiling and laughing, while Sakura burned with anger. She wanted to know why Naruto had been hugging Sasuke. So, what she had heard from Neji some time ago about tutoring was now confirmed. She did not particularly like her boyfriend spending time with that emo kid. Sakura crossed her arms and huffed with exasperation.

"Well, that was a cute scene, now wasn't it?" Ino said cheerily and wiggled her eyebrows at her friend. Sakura mumbled curses under her breath and glared at where the two boys formerly had been standing. The last thing she would have ever called that was _cute_.


	5. Drowned with Tears

Here's the nice long chappie I promised. Of course, it contains the destruction of NaruSaku, as guaranteed! And someone asked if I had a beta-reader, and no, I do not, and really, I don't plan on getting one. It messes up my mojo man.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own anyone in Naruto. I don't own Naruto. I don't own Sasuke. But I do own the club in this chapter...nevermind, Inoichi does.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, underage drinking, bloody massacre, clubbing/teen partying, etc.

_Review please! :3_

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE: DROWNED WITH TEARS**

_Sasuke ran down the street towards his home, swinging the lunch box that he carried. He walked through the narrow alley-like roads in the Uchiha Grounds and observed his surroundings. He slowed to a walk and continued to stroll along, looking down at his feet as he did so. He recalled the earlier events of the day, wondering if he really could become a perfectionist like his brother, who was exceptionally skilled in everything. He was a genius who was already in college at such a young age, and compared to him, Sasuke felt inferior. Compared to him, he was small, pathetic, and weak. Yet at the same time, he wondered if he wanted to be like his elder brother. He always treated Sasuke like a nuisance and he was quite distant. No one understood him. Sasuke was sure he had tried hard enough, but he just could not understand the way his brother thought. He interpreted things differently from everyone else. It was no lie that Sasuke's parents were worried about his elder brother._

_ For a brief moment, he looked somewhat sad, but he quickly recovered. He was almost certain that, one day, he would be just as skilled as his elder brother, so he continued to stroll down the street without a worry. He hoped that his parents were not angry, since he came home from school so late today. The full moon illuminated the night sky so brilliantly that even the stars were not visible. He did not need any light to see on such a clear and beautiful night as this. Sasuke started to happily run back home again, eager to tell his parents of his adventures at school today. He looked up at the navy sky above him as he ran and stopped to admire the deep blue color._

_ Abruptly, there was a brief sound to his left. It sounded like the clack of a footstep. His onyx eyes scanned his surroundings, though it was difficult to see into the dark alley ways. Sasuke had no way of knowing if anything was there. He looked around and just as he turned his attention back to the road in front of him, he caught something in his peripheral vision. He thought he had seen a figure leaning against a telephone pole, the large moon glowing resplendently behind them. He stopped in his tracks and did a double-take. The person was no longer there, but the silhouette had been uncannily familiar. It looked like…Itachi. He looked around with widened eyes, trying to see if anything was out of the ordinary. All the lights were off in the Uchiha Grounds. Sasuke found this odd, because it certainly was not yet late enough to sleep. The young boy was beginning to feel apprehensive. He realized that there was not a person in sight._

_ It suddenly dawned to him. The Uchiha Grounds had been attacked by someone… or something. A chill ran up his spine when he noticed the unusual stillness of the air. It just did not seem right._

_ Sasuke's eyes widened with sudden panic and he ran forward, his messenger bag slapping against his leg as he moved. He took a sharp turn and continued running towards his home, halting immediately in mortification at the scene that lay before him. Dead bodies surrounded him, sprawled about haphazardly. People who were smiling and laughing just this morning were now pale, lifeless forms. Some people seemed untouched, with only a small amount of blood seeping from their mouths. They must have died from internal bleeding, most likely from powerful blows to their bodies. A few were impaled with an innumerable amount of knives, and he forced himself not to look at the rest._

_ "Who could've done this?" He asked himself quietly, his voice trembling. Sasuke firmly shut his eyes and ran straight ahead, through the mass of dead bodies, and headed towards his family's mansion. He halted when he saw the two people who had encouraged him to do well just this morning and he stared in pure horror. His pupils dilated and he looked around, nervously. _

"_What's going on?" He whispered to himself frantically. Sasuke suddenly felt sick. The blood he saw made him feel queasy, and the smell of the bodies was just too much. He clutched his stomach and forced himself to walk past what was formerly his Aunt Shizu. He needed to know where his parents were; where Itachi was. Sasuke jumped when he heard a cackling noise behind him, and he turned to see that some of the buildings were suddenly aflame. The murderer was still around. He went to his home and pushed open the large doors to the mansion, seeing the foyer, kitchen, and living rooms deserted._

_ "Are you here?" The young boy said, his voice wavering precariously. He shook visibly as he looked around, never receiving an answer to his question. Sasuke quickly dropped his bag onto the floor and ran through the many halls and corridors to the back of his house, towards a large room in which his parents enjoyed to spend time. He ran as fast as his short legs could take him, almost tripping in the process. He regained his footing and continued on, nonetheless. He ran past the vibrant flowers that his mother loved so much. He ran past the peaceful waterfall in their landscaping where his father liked to meditate. Sasuke ran past the place where, just this morning, he had been begging Itachi to tutor him, so he could be just as intelligent as his older brother. He had wanted to be like him._

_ Sasuke slowed as he approached the French doors that were the entrance to the room, and stood there in a trepidation, breathing in nervous gasps. Gathering all of his courage, he pulled the doors open and stepped inside. His eyes widened when he saw the moonlight illuminating a spot on the floor where two bodies laid still, one on top of the other, some neatly placed drops of blood scattered around the pool that had formed. He widened his eyes even further and his whole body began to shake violently. He was too young; he could not be seeing this. He clutched his stomach again and gagged, then forced himself to approach the dead bodies. He slowly walked out of the darkness and stopped when his feet stood right outside the puddle of blood._

_ "Mom..? Dad…?" He asked, beyond incredulous. His black eyes scanned the scene in front of him, still absorbing everything. It could not be real, could it? Tears welled up in his eyes, yet somehow he could not bring himself to look away. Sasuke stared down at his parent's bodies in horror. He heard light footsteps and looked up, seeing someone emerge from the darkness. He let out a strangled gasp and stumbled backwards, his eyes filling with more water. He stopped backing away for a moment and scrutinized the person. Their head was turned towards the window and they were admiring the haunting full moon. They then turned forward, as if just noticing Sasuke. There stood Itachi, calmly looming over his parents' bodies, his face revealed from the darkness. Sasuke froze with shock._

_ "What a lovely shade of navy. Perfect for a night such as this, don't you think, little brother?" He said and glanced at the window again, his face apathetic, the moon illuminating it brightly. It revealed a dangerous glint in his dark eyes that contrasted with all of his calm features quite visibly. He then turned his head and looked at Sasuke, his eyes unreadable. They were a stone-cold, hollow black, utterly and unmistakably unfeeling._

_ "Brother? Brother?" Sasuke muttered, looking at him with wide eyes. He was incredibly relieved that Itachi appeared to be unharmed. "A-Are you alright? Brother..?" He asked nervously, wondering how Itachi could just stand there like that. Emotionlessly, watching the moon, like it had no affect on him whatsoever that his parents were dead and bloodied in front of him. _

_ "Mom and Dad…were…" Sasuke could not bring himself to say it, and he choked on his own voice, sounding strangled. Tears spilled from his eyes and he started to cry, crystal drops sliding down his round, pale cheeks and dripping onto the floor. He could not handle it. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of his tears, sending the water droplets flinging aimlessly from his closed onyx eyes._

_ "W-Who could've done this?" Sasuke said through his weeping. Itachi finally looked away from the window and slowly turned his head towards his brother, that certain ominous look still evident in his eyes. He stood without moving an inch and watched his brother spill his tears. Sasuke wiped his eyes and finally looked up, and noticing his brother's stare in his direction. Itachi looked at him as if he was not there. He noticed how Itachi had not spilled one tear, how he was untouched, and did not look fazed at all. The younger Uchiha halted his sobbing, and the two brothers stood and watched each other for what seemed to be an eternity._

_ "I-Itachi..? W-What are you…?" Sasuke started, unsure of what was happening. He wished everything could be like it was this morning, with his parents' smiles and laughter, and the Uchiha Grounds buzzing with life. What was happening now felt so unreal that he somehow knew it was not a dream. His small body was completely numb and he felt disconnected to it, as if his body was not there._

_ "Foolish little brother," Itachi said and gazed at Sasuke, so nonchalantly that it frightened him. He never knew that his elder brother could be so atrocious and terrifying. Itachi came closer, stepping into the blood, and closed his eyes. When they abruptly snapped open, looking wild, Sasuke suddenly knew._

_ "Y-You…" He stammered and tried to step away from his brother, who was now ever so slowly approaching him. Sasuke stumbled backwards, fell harshly onto his tailbone, and clutched his backside in pain. The Uchiha prodigy hovered menacingly over his younger brother, slowly extended his arm, and offered Sasuke his hand. His eyes nebulous, the boy lifted his small, pale hand and unconsciously slipped it into Itachi's larger hand. Sasuke stood up, clutching his brother's hand. Itachi strode out of the room, the younger Uchiha walking next to him with wide and unfocused eyes, somewhere other than this Earth. Sasuke felt disconnected from reality._

_ "Yes, me," Itachi said apathetically, without a hint of emotion in his dull voice. He led his little brother to the front of the house. They walked through the chillingly empty halls of the now abandoned home. Sasuke still quietly followed, somewhat entranced, nearly tripping over his own feet. He snapped back to reality, suddenly confused of what was happening. He sharply tugged his hand from Itachi's grip and looked at his brother with coal eyes that were wild with a mix between anger, hate, sadness, pain, disgust, and the slightest hint of betrayal. Of course, he was too young to fully understand all of the powerful emotions that were overcoming his mind. The elder Uchiha slowly shifted his eyes to his brother and he glanced at him briefly, and then softly patted his raven hair. Then he swiftly glided over to the house and removed a lighter from his pocket. Sasuke stared at him, suddenly alarmed. He had set some of the smaller houses surrounding the mansion on fire prior to this, and Sasuke feared he would do the same to their home._

_ "B-Brother?" Sasuke stammered, forgetting all of those emotions. Itachi glanced at him and switched the lighter on and off, on and off, calmly watching the flame flicker. Sasuke took a step back and held his arms protectively in front of him, no longer trusting his brother. He still was not all that sure of what was occurring, but somehow he was no longer surprised with Itachi. He was still his brother; all Sasuke had wanted was for him to acknowledge him, since Itachi always looked down on Sasuke. Itachi was the person he had admired. He acted as he normally did, so why did he suddenly seem sadistic, ominous, homicidal, and psychotic? When Sasuke looked into his eyes, he still saw the same person that was his dear, elder brother just this morning. His parents had probably noticed the way Itachi had acted; that was why they were always so concerned about him being so antisocial and distant. He even seemed to dislike human interaction. So, how could they just let him kill everyone? Kill them? _Why hadn't he killed me yet?

_The boy trembled visibly at the thought and his eyes were wide and petrified, his shoulders shaking, and tears began spilling down his cheeks once more. Itachi carelessly tossed the lighter into the house and he watched with the same coal eyes as always at the display of fire dancing before him. Sasuke did not blink, he just continued to silently cry. Why would his brother not kill him? Itachi walked towards his brother and placed one hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and he watched the building burn down from there. Itachi could feel Sasuke shake every time he let out a sob. He cried harder, but no more tears could come out. Sasuke let out a dry sob; the Uchiha prodigy looked down at his sibling and patted his shoulder. Sasuke wanted to get away from this...stranger. He was no longer his brother. He hated him, and felt disgusted at how he stood there watching the flames with him. Itachi acted as if nothing was wrong. He had just murdered his entire clan, his family, all of the people with whom he had grown up. There was not a sinister smirk to be found on his face. He remained as stone cold and heartless as ever, regarding the flames no differently than he would look at anything else._

_ "Why…?" Sasuke managed to rasp, his head hanging low and his raven bangs covering his face. The elder Uchiha continued to look ahead and did not bother to respond to his brother's question. The vociferous sirens of fire trucks were now heading in the direction of the Uchiha Grounds. Sasuke did not budge, waiting for Itachi to kill him like all the rest. He knew that he could not get away. But Sasuke wanted to live, he wanted to run, he wanted to escape._

_ "I want to live…" Sasuke whispered, and began to cry hysterically. Itachi removed his hand from his brother's shoulder. Gasps and pained sobs filled the air, his entire body shook, Sasuke covered his face with his hands, and his chest rose and fell quickly. "I want to live, Itachi! I'm scared…I'm scared!" He shouted and let himself go, falling down onto the cold and unwelcoming pavement of the street, gasping with few cries here and there. The elder Uchiha observed his brother, unaffected as the sirens became louder. Slowly, he bent down so that his mouth was right beside Sasuke's ear._

_ "Foolish little brother, you are not even worth killing. Remember what I said this morning, and if you wish to hate me, detest me, so be it. I will come back for you, so don't be surprised when that day comes. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go." He stood up from his position and walked in the opposite direction of Sasuke, leaving him detached, disheartened, and in a false state of reality. Itachi did not bother to glance back and slowly turned a corner; he did not bother to speed up even at the sound quickly approaching sirens._

Sasuke woke up with a jolt and immediately sat up, gasping for air. His eyes were wide and his chest rose and fell quickly. He checked his surroundings, uncertain of where he was. His head pounded from the nightmare and he looked down at the floor from the height of the top bunk with blurred vision. Tiny beads of sweat made their way down Sasuke's forehead and slid down all the way to his chin. He clutched his head and tried to catch his breath; he tried to get over his memories. He did not know why he had these dreams all of a sudden. They had not occurred since he had gotten released from the mental institution. He did not even have them when he was in his pointless avenger phase. Warily, he climbed down the small ladder on the side of the bunk bed and wobbled into the bathroom, turning on the water for a long, cold shower.

* * *

Naruto burst out of the doors of the college campus, greeted by the fresh air and by the sun beating down warmly upon him. He sighed, happy to finally leave. Naruto walked slowly down the sidewalk towards the dormitory building, in no hurry to get 'home', dump his books on the bottom bunk, grab a quick snack, and then head off to work. He stretched and blinked his eyes at the sky, watching the clouds float over his head. Naruto stared at the parts of the sky that were a deep cerulean, which his eyes seemed to mimic. He got caught in a daydream and unconsciously continued to walk down the street. He was not in the mood to trudge up the stairs and he regretted getting a room on the second level. He shrugged, pulled out the keys to his beloved Firebird, and swung them around his finger once before pressing the button to unlock it. Naruto tossed his books onto the passenger's seat. He was entering his car when a familiar blue-black mass of color turned around the corner.

Naruto immediately perked up, happy to see his friend. He hopped out of the car, waved enthusiastically at Sasuke, and grinned. Naruto did not notice that Sasuke was looking down at his feet as he walked, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. He seemed to be lost in contemplation. Naruto grunted and stopped waving, his arm falling back to his side. He leaned against his car and decided to wait for Sasuke to come closer, so this time when he started waving to him and calling his name it would be impossible for Sasuke to miss him. Sasuke grew nearer, still in a daze, which was somewhat odd. Naruto decided that it would be best if he just approached him.

"Hey, Sasuke!" The said boy looked up when he heard his name. He saw a tall, smiling blond coming towards him from the direction of a very unmistakably orange sports car. Sasuke nodded, acknowledging his friend. Finally, Sasuke had gone over the facts and he had accepted that he was growing close with Konoha College's favorite blond, no matter how odd it seemed.

"Dobe." Sasuke nodded again and he halted.

"Hey, don't call me that, you bastard," Naruto insisted, putting on an angry face. Sasuke was aware that he was just jesting and replied with a simple, arrogant smirk. "So," Naruto continued, "what's up? You're all spacey today." He looked at the raven-haired boy curiously. It took Sasuke a moment to realize that those inquisitive blue eyes were directed at him. He stared while Naruto looked confused.

Sasuke blinked and returned to reality. He made sure he had on his usual emotionless face before speaking again. "It's nothing," Sasuke reassured in a dismissive tone. Naruto looked at him with concerned eyes, disbelieving him. Sasuke decided to change the subject. "So, where are you heading?" Sasuke asked, gesturing towards the car. Naruto turned around and glanced at his car, his smile replaced with a grumpy pout.

"I have to go to work. My job's at the auto-mechanic shop a few blocks down," he grumbled. He stopped to look thoughtfully at the clouds, his smile reappearing on his face. Sasuke stared at him, wondering how he could possibly be so mercurial. "You know, I'm pretty good at fixing cars. I even get to wear this really awesome orange jumpsuit when I work." Naruto smiled proudly in Sasuke's direction. In return, he scoffed, not even daring to picture his friend in an all orange suit.

"You probably look like a construction sign, dobe. I wouldn't be surprised if you glowed in the dark," Sasuke said, making no effort to hide the sly smirk that formed on his lips. Sasuke did not really want to know what he would look like in that suit and all its orange glory; he was unsure if he liked the color better or worse since he started to hang out with Naruto. He became used to seeing the horrid color too often.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, mumbled a few incoherent things, and crossed his arms tightly across his chest. "I know that I wear orange a lot, but it does not make me fucking glow, Uchiha," Naruto sighed in fake-annoyance and titled his head to the side with two fingers resting thoughtfully on his chin. He suddenly smiled like a cartoon character that had a light bulb above their head illuminated. Sasuke would have thought that he looked rather adorable, if Naruto had not begun to grin like an idiot and jump up excitedly like a child.

"Hey! I got an idea!" Naruto said cheerfully. "Later I'm going out to eat, then spending the night out in the city, you know, late night partying and stuff. Neji, Sakura, Ino, and Gaara will be there, too. Do you want to come with me?" He asked, the excitement in his voice going down to a more controlled level, but his eyes still sparkled and danced. Sasuke blushed involuntarily. He would have assented if those fake people were not coming along, but then again it was not in his character to do anything resembling partying. After he thought about it for a moment he shook his head and turned away.

"No thanks. I'm not really into that," Sasuke said with his usual cool voice. Naruto's smile faltered, but nevertheless he kept it there. He shrugged his shoulders and he did not bother to hide the pout that had now settled nicely onto his features. He was hoping that they could have spent time together and do something other than pointlessly argue over nothing and study, even if those activities were fun as well (the first much more entertaining than the latter, of course). Naruto knew that he should not have elevated his hopes and that he should have expected that Sasuke would demur. He did not seem to be the type that was fond of the nightlife.

"Fine. Be that way. Your loss," Naruto said sulkily and his shoulders sagged slightly. He looked in Sasuke's direction, faked a sniffle, and stared at the back of Sasuke's shirt with large blue eyes. Sasuke glanced back in Naruto's direction and smirked rather wickedly. He chuckled, and with another glance he noticed that Naruto now leaned against his car, still wearing the same face.

"You're pathetic, dobe," Sasuke said. He faced forwards and started to walk towards the entrance of the dorms, taking his time. Naruto made a low, growling noise and glared at his back. He strolled over to the side of his car, opened the door, and stood near the entrance.

"Go ahead, don't say bye! Bastard!" He yelled at Sasuke and slipped inside of his car. Naruto grumbled something under his breath about bastards while he shut the door, closing it carefully. Naruto put the car in reverse and backed out of his parking spot, beeping the horn a few times at Sasuke in a way of saying 'See you later, bastard!' as he passed by. Sasuke threw a small wave in Naruto's direction as he exited the parking lot.

* * *

Loud music blared from every building along the streets. The sidewalks shook with the ear-deafening volume of the noise. Expensive and luxurious cars filled the streets, racing by, adding to the level of the noise. People littered the streets, regardless of the time, all heading to the various clubs and bars that were abundant in the city. Every place had a colorful and flashing neon sign neatly hanging near the entrance of the building, bidding the people who walked the streets to enter. Teenagers hung out at the ends of the streets near the stop signs and light posts or at the entrances of a dark alley ways, leaning against the walls and smoking. The dark night sky hovered over the lighted city and sorrowfully there was not one visible star. Konoha City could not have seemed any more alive at one in the morning.

Naruto, Neji, Gaara, Sakura, and Ino walked the streets much like every other person in the population above eighteen. Naruto, of course, led the pack of friends as they sauntered down the sidewalks, on their way to the most popular and exclusive club in the city. The group passed the long line of people waiting outside to gain entrance into the nightclub. Several of the populace in line was giving them weird looks, wondering how a group of kids thought they could get in without waiting. Naruto and his friends reached the front of the line and the people watched intently as Ino pranced up to the bouncer with her silken white-blonde ponytail trailing after her.

"I do believe I'm on the list," Ino said, standing with her hands placed firmly on her hips. The people in line still watched with raised eyebrows, confident that she would be asked to leave. The bouncer looked at her suspiciously with his list out and ready.

"Oh? What's your name, little lady?" He asked skeptically, readily looking at the list to search and see if it was there. Then possibly, shoo her and her little bunch of friends away.

"Ino Yamanaka," she answered bluntly, looking at her perfectly manicured nails. Naruto watched impatiently as the bouncer flipped through the pages on his clipboard. He was really never one for waiting, even though his patience had gradually increased over the years. He sighed inwardly with exasperation when the bouncer finally located Ino's name and stepped aside, gesturing for them to enter.

"Go ahead in, Miss Yamanaka," he said. Ino, of course, cheerily thanked him, and then skipped inside, waiting for her friends to follow her. Naruto rolled his eyes and murmured 'finally' under his breath, but strolled inside the pulsing building. Sakura closely followed her boyfriend, clinging onto his arm and making sure that he never left her sight. The pink-haired girl snuggled into his arm and looked up at him with her emerald eyes shining. Naruto smiled at her and leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips as the two continued to enter. Sakura smiled with satisfaction, since lately, it seemed as if Naruto had been distracted and uninterested in her, but she had just gained her reassurance that she had his full attention. Neji watched the scene in front of him with indifference and continued to follow his friends. Gaara said something to Neji, but over the loud music and shouts of the insanely drunk people on the dance floor, it was inaudible.

Ino stopped walking and everyone halted behind her. They gathered their coats, tossed them at the coat woman, and further made their way into the club, heading towards the VIP area. The group stopped when they reached a table that had metallic blue, rounded, leather seats. They filed into the booth and Naruto threw away the sign on which the word 'reserved' was written. Ino laid back into the luminous seat and crossed her arms behind her head.

"So guys, how do ya like my daddy's new club?" She asked with her typical cheery aura. They all agreed that it was indeed an excellent club. They relaxed into their seats and chatted until a girl in a pink wig, who dressed in an unbelievably skimpy outfit, came over to order their drinks. She tapped her notepad with her furry purple pen and spoke to them without looking up.

"Can I get you guys something to drink?" She asked, barely heard through the music.

"Get us a couple of rounds of cosmopolitans," Ino said casually, still leaning back into the chair. The girl looked up and stared at her with a weird expression, then glanced at everyone else at the table. She especially stared at Sakura and her real, pink hair, and only received a snarl and a glare in return. Naruto blinked his blue eyes and put his arms behind his head, staring at her with a curious face. He wondered why she was taking so long to stare at them. The girl cocked her head and tapped her chin with the pen.

"Are you guys even old enough to drink?" She asked suspiciously. "And what are you doing at this table? Wasn't it reserved?" She eyed each of the college students in front of her. Naruto glanced away with annoyance. He looked over the railing, to the floor below them, where people were energetically dancing to 'What is love?. He no longer felt like he was in the mood to spend the entire night partying downtown. Neji and Gaara did not bother to acknowledge the girl and they sat patiently, waiting for her to get the hell out of there. Sakura was too busy snuggling up to Naruto, who seemed spaced out, staring at the dance floor. Ino sighed and figured that she would have to be the one to put this bitch in her place.

"Yeah, it is reserved, for us," Ino snapped. "And does it really matter how fucking old we are or what, bitch?" She slowly placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. She leaned over and gave the girl a calm look with one thin eyebrow raised.

"Ermm—right, okay. Cosmopolitans. It'll only be a moment," she said, flustered. She took one last glance at Ino, then turned to look at Gaara for a moment, and blushed before quickly walking away. Everyone's eyes followed her as she left, until she disappeared down the stairs, towards the bar.

"Whore," Ino said bluntly, with a poker face. Everyone laughed at how Ino had said that. They all sat up in their seats, shuffling around and straightening up. The girl returned with the drinks and departed quickly, without saying a word. Everyone laughed when she was out of earshot from what they were probably thinking in unison.

"So, Gaara," Ino started. The smirk planted on her face did not match the cheery tone of her voice. "What do you think about her, huh? She was totally checking you out." She grinned maliciously and casually stirred her drink. She sipped her cosmo, and then looked at him with innocent eyes.

"I don't date fugly pink hos." Gaara's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms tightly across his chest. Ino just flashed a toothy smile in return.

"Hey!" Sakura shouted, sounding insulted. Everyone laughed and she merely blushed, realizing what she had said. "I mean about the pink part. Not the ho or the fugly part."

"Sure," Gaara said sarcastically, smirking. He looked away as his friends started to blab on about something that he did not care about. He chugged his drink, unsure of what to do. Gaara had never felt like he belonged in clubs, alongside all of these people that seemed so happy, due to the fact that they were drunk. Incessantly, girls flirted with him and loud music pounded at his ears. Even though he had lightened up significantly since he started hanging out with Naruto, Neji, Ino, and Sakura, that did not mean he would pretend have a good time at a club just for them.

A few rounds of drinks and several shots later, Naruto was beginning to feel dizzy and the music was starting to get to his head. He took another sip of his drink and looked at his friends, who all seemed well on their way to getting drunk. Ino was laughing at nothing in particular, acting cheerier than usual, and she was all over Gaara, harassing him as she always did. Gaara was smiling creepily, completely out of it, and Neji was taking a large gulp of his drink. Naruto hazily looked down to see Sakura still clinging to his arm, as she had been all night. He sighed, indifferent towards Sakura's clutch, and sipped his drink slowly. For being at a club with enough music and dancing to make anyone feel elated, he felt surprisingly dull. That feeling quickly dissipated when 'Tipsy' ended and 'Satisfaction' filled the nightclub. Many people immediately flocked the dance floor. He moved around, feeling an itch to dance. Sakura noticed this and looked up at him, smiling.

"Who's up for some dancing?" Ino announced. She sprung out of her seat, nearly making her shot of tequila spill over. She looked at friends over enthusiastically. Gaara dizzily nodded and Neji was already on his way out of the booth.

"I am!" Sakura shouted vivaciously and her hand shot up. She tugged on Naruto's arm and he followed her in a daze, unsure of what was happening. They entered the dance floor, making their way through the mob of people who were drunk enough to unconsciously start a mosh pit. People's swaying bodies bumped into them as they headed to the center of the dance floor.

Naruto realized that he was dancing with Sakura in the center of the nightclub. As they danced, they let the music lead their bodies. Naruto glanced over his shoulder and saw that Neji was sitting at the bar, surrounded by a few girls and doing a damn good job of ignoring them for being half-drunken. Gaara was nowhere in sight, and one minute there was a taste testing contest on Ino's stomach (Banana Daiquiri vs. Shirley Temple) and the next she was dirty dancing with a man she just met. Everyone around Naruto seemed to be having a good time and loosing themselves in the music, yet he felt strangely disconnected. Naruto blinked his nebulous blue eyes. He did not know where the thought came from, but he wondered what Sasuke was doing. He was most likely sleeping.

Sakura noticed his lack of attention to her and she pressed her body into his as the next song 'Sexy Back' blasted into the building. She silently cursed under her breath.

"Oh, shit," Naruto suddenly said, a slew of colorful words pouring out of his mouth. He mentally slapped himself for almost forgetting. While he was on the subject of Sasuke, he remembered that he had an early tutoring session scheduled for tomorrow morning with him. Naruto thought of how Sasuke would react if he did not show, or if he did, but with a monster hangover. Naruto would have laughed thinking about how pissed Sasuke would be, since compared to him, Sasuke was somewhat small. But first, he needed to get out of this club and go home.

"…Naruto?" Sakura asked with uncertainty. She stopped dancing in order to scrutinize her boyfriend. She stared directly into his cerulean eyes, trying to get him to look into her own emerald ones, but he was still distracted. She growled, unconcerned with whether he heard or not. He suddenly looked at her, seeming to be a little confused before realizing what was occurring. Naruto glanced around, and then shifted his eyes to look at his girlfriend, and he spoke in a rush.

"Listen Sakura, I really have to go now. I'm sorry." He looked at her with pleading eyes for a moment before turning around and making his way through the crowd of dancing people in a brisk walk. Naruto finally escaped the mob and headed towards the coat room to grab his jacket. He ignored the girls who hit on him along the way, snatched his jacket, and turned a corner to go outside, the loud, pulsing music growing quieter as he went along. He saw a flash of pink behind him as he exited the club and started to make his way to his car.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled and chased after him, cursing herself for choosing to wear her stiletto heels this very night. She tried the best she could to chase after him, nearly stumbling as she did so, her intoxication hindering her as well. Sakura finally caught up to him, gasping for breath. She could hardly believe how she managed to chase someone as athletic as Naruto. "Naruto, stop!" Sakura shouted desperately. Slowly, he turned to face her.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, wondering what could drive her to chase him like that. He knew that he left rather abruptly, but in his mind, that was not reason enough to chase him. He looked at her with confusion as she stormed up to him and planted her feet firmly on the concrete. They stared at each other, the muted thumping of the music audible in the background.

"Why are you leaving?" She asked, looking distressed.

"I have something important to do, Sakura. I just forgot. I didn't really mean to just sprint out of the club like that or anything," Naruto said in an apology.

"Really?" Sakura choked, becoming angry. Naruto glanced down and noticed that her fists were clenched. He merely nodded, took a step towards her, and attempted to touch her arm, but she violently yanked herself away from him. Naruto was taken aback and he scrutinized her, still unable to comprehend what was so wrong. He took a step away from her, giving Sakura her space. Naruto quietly watched, waiting for her to say something.

"What's so important that you had to leave me? I'm your fucking girlfriend, Naruto!" Sakura shouted, tears stinging her eyes. She had enough of him neglecting her, and she could not take it any longer. So sometimes she was too protective, too clingy, and too needy, but in her opinion, that did not make her deserve such treatment. Ever since Naruto had started to spend time with Sasuke, Sakura felt as if she did not exist to him.

"Sakura? D-Don't cry," Naruto stammered. He stood there, fidgeting with his hands. He wanted to wipe away her tears, but he knew that she would not allow that. She would just slap his hand away. Naruto still did not know what was so wrong about what he did tonight. He tried to recall something that could make her act like this, but he could think of nothing. The alcohol in his system obstructed his thoughts. Sakura ignored his plea and all of the emotions raging within her escaped in a large sob. Tears slid down her flushed cheeks, her cosmetics gliding along with them.

"What the hell is more important than me?" She cried, looking at her boyfriend with angry, emerald eyes.

Naruto looked at her, incredulous. "Nothing. Nothing is more important. S-Sakura, listen, I didn't mean to make you cry or anything. I just needed to head home because tomorrow I have to study and stuff pretty early with Sasuke and-" Sakura interrupted his speech with a scream of agony that tore through his sentence. She could no longer control herself. Sakura launched herself at Naruto and clung to his arm, sobbing into it. Naruto stared at her with shock and tried to wrap his arm around her, but she swatted him away. He watched her cry into his arm, his blue eyes growing dark. Sakura tried to ignore the truly pained expression that appeared on his face and the guilty feeling that swept her heart.

"Please, Sakura, I just…" He stuttered and then sighed. Hardly anyone walked the streets, but those who did stared at them weirdly. Naruto tried to touch her hair, but she jerked her head back, away from him.

"Please, Naruto, don't touch me. Ever since you started hanging out with that Sasuke kid, you've been neglecting me. I've put up for with this for about a month and a half. That's a long damn time, Naruto! When we're together it just doesn't feel like we're a couple…it doesn't feel like you fucking love me anymore!" She screamed and released her grip on his arm, running to the nearest building and leaning against it, sobbing. Naruto quickly followed her, worry evident in his expression. He hovered a few feet away from her, afraid to come any closer. Sakura finally regained her breath and looked at Naruto, who was now staring at her in disbelief. "Tell me if there's someone else. Just fucking tell me. It won't make a difference now."

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but then he analyzed her last comment. He clamped his jaw shut tightly and looked at her with concern. He could hardly remember how they had gotten to this point; Sakura screaming and crying, looking like a wreck. He knew that he was not looking his best either, though he was still in an initial stage of shock about the sudden outburst. He took a step towards her, then stopped, his sunny yellow hair suddenly looking dull in the lighting. Naruto bowed his head, his bangs covering his eyes. He lifted his head enough to reveal pained, yet soft, blue eyes. Sakura felt another pang of guilt stab her. She merely watched, waiting for him to speak.

"Sakura," Naruto said softly, "What do you mean by the last thing you said?" He asked, his shoulders sagging. A dry sob escaped her throat and she kept her back against the wall. "Why won't it make a difference now?"

"Because, Naruto..." She choked; the words seemed to be stuck in her throat. "I...I don't want to be with you anymore." Sakura hardly realized the words had escaped her mouth. She slunk down into a pathetic heap against the wall. She felt her bottom touch the cold concrete and she started to sob again. When she looked up, she saw Naruto standing stiffly, looking stricken. Suddenly, he stopped looking forlorn and an irate look replaced it. He clenched his fists tightly, then covered his face and ran a hand roughly through his hair. Sakura wanted to cry all over again, but then she realized that she should be the one who was angry. After all, this was his fault and she was the victim here. She clenched her fists so hard her manicured red nails dug into her skin painfully. Naruto raised his head and looked at her with furious eyes that made her jump back into the wall.

"Okay," he growled. He said nothing else. Naruto stormed down the street, leaving his now ex-girlfriend behind him to cry. He no longer cared. Naruto walked without consideration of whom he bumped into and pushed them out of his way. He began to run the way back to his car. He forcefully swung open the door to his car, slammed it shut once he had entered, not giving a damn about whether or not he damaged it. Naruto struggled to pull his keys out of his pocket, still somewhat drunk and riddled with anger, turned on his car, and pressed on the gas. He needed a good surf session to organize his thoughts and he did not give a flying fuck that it was three-thirty in the morning.

* * *

The tires of the vivid car screeched and Naruto made the sharp turn into the parking lot of the college dorms. He quickly parked and practically jumped out of his car, running up the stairs as fast as he could. His eyes stung with unshed tears. Finally, he reached his dorm, and he swung open the door. He tore off his clothes, pulled on his orange board shorts, grabbed his surfboard, and left as quickly as he came. He sprinted to the back of the hall and quickly wiped his eyes, cursing at himself. Naruto ran past Sasuke's dorm, where he was probably sleeping soundly, and he became infuriated all over again. Sakura seemed to blame him for all this.

There he stood silently, his chest rising and falling quickly. He thought about the night. He was dancing with his ex-girlfriend, hanging out with his friends, and having what should have been a great time. Naruto thought of his friends who probably did not even know that he was gone, living it up at the nightclub. He quickly stopped himself before his thoughts turned towards Sakura's well-being. He sighed, rested his head on his surf board, and stared at the fox demon design on it. He waited for the tears that he had felt in his eyes earlier to spill, but it never happened. The tears would not come. He became angry at himself all over again, wondering why he was unable to cry.

Naruto continued to make his way down the hall and ran down the stairs, thankful that the college campus was right on the shore. He saw the waves of the ocean pummel the sand fiercely and he looked up at the full moon in the night sky. In this part of town, no one was on the streets this late at beach was deserted. He felt his feet touch the soft sand as he sprinted across the beach, diving head-on into the sea. He stared at the empty lifeguard's post and it occurred to him that this may not be safe when the surf was this rough. Naruto shook his head. He never had cared about such things; he acted on impulse.

Naruto paddled out further into the ocean and felt the chilling water slap against his tanned body. The salty, sea water splashed on his face, drenching his hair completely. He felt his board shorts become soaked and they clung to his legs. He grunted and continued to paddle out, occasionally diving under the oncoming waves. When he felt that he was out far enough, he turned his board around and began to ride a wave. He stood up and swerved back and forth on the wave, thrashing through the water. A throbbing pain filled his head and Naruto gripped it, his blonde locks falling in between his fingers. He reprimanded himself internally for surfing in an emotional rage when he was not sober.

When he realized that he was distracted from surfing, it was too late. He sharply turned his head to look at a large wave came crashing down on him. Naruto was shoved under the water and a salty taste filled his mouth. He became engulfed in darkness. He frantically swam up and gasped for air, shaking his head in order to get his wet and tousled hair out of his eyes. Before he had a chance to think another wave came up from behind him and tossed him around carelessly in the water, eventually dropping him off onto the cold, wet sand on the beach. Naruto coughed and sluggishly opened his eyes, realizing that he had swallowed a lot of water and had nearly drowned. Slowly, he stood up and looked at the ocean with eyes that matched its stormy color. His surfboard lay on the beach a few feet away and dragged himself towards it, coughing here and there. He stopped and loomed over the long board, suddenly wishing that it had snapped in half. Naruto coughed the entire way back to his dorm. As he walked through the halls drips of water fell onto the blue carpet, leaving a trail of small, dark spots. Naruto stopped at the entrance of his room, tossed his surfboard to the side, and collapsed onto the bed, soaking wet, shivering, and coughing. Naruto did not bother to close the door.


	6. Gluing Broken Pieces

Thanks so much to all of you for the positive feedback! I am so happy! (Hugs all my lovely readers) Really...I would've never really even imagined getting over a hundred reviews when I started this. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, thanks to the infinitive degree! I'm not sure if my counting methods were correct or not, but I'm pretty sure that If-This-Disturbs-You-Then-Walk-Away had the honor of being my one hundredth reviewer!

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto. What makes you think that I do?

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, DepressedAndShitty!Naruto, Twitching!Sasuke, and the misuse of ramen. No need to repeat myself.

_Review! :D_

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX: GLUING BROKEN PIECES**

Sasuke stared at the space above him and laid his hands neatly on his sheets. He blinked slowly and turned his head to the side, watching the ceiling fan spin. After staring at it for some time, he returned his head to its previous position and continued to stare upwards. Sasuke did not bother to check the clock; he had no desire to know the time. Lately, his dreams about his clan's massacre had been occurring about every night that he slept. He was never much of a sound sleeper, usually alerted by the smallest noise or movement, or a person's presence in his room. He preferred to call it very, very alert, not paranoid. As each night passed Sasuke found himself becoming somewhat of an insomniac, and he was increasingly tempted to get out of bed. He did not want to sleep, and even though those dreams did not happen every single night, he could not predict which would be the night that he would have them again. He had already lived through it once, and he definitely did not like reliving it every time he closed his eyes because of his exceptional visual memory.

He turned to his side, glanced down, finally looking at his clock, and realized that in an hour he had to tutor Naruto extra early today before he started his shift. He swung his legs to the side of the bed and dropped down, inching his way to the shower. Sasuke's his eyelids felt heavy, so he put the water for the shower to level that could be called freezing to wake himself up. He felt his black hair become soaked, sticking onto the back of his neck, and the water droplets slide down his body. Once his hair was fully soaked, he extended his arm and reached for his favorite peach-scented shampoo. He put a small amount of it in his hands and massaged it through his hair while musing about last night. He remembered hearing some noises coming from the hall at about a quarter to four, and not much later he heard the same noises again.

Of course, all Sasuke could make out were the thumps of someone stepping through the halls, and he thought he heard an occasional curse word, but he was uncertain. After all, when someone is sleep deprived, their senses become less heightened and they can be somewhat delusional. He was sure of one thing, though. The second time around, the thumps were much slower, like someone was dragging their feet across the floor, compared to the quick-paced ones of the first time. He finished washing his hair, stepped out of the shower, slung a white towel around his slim waist, and then proceeded to dry his hair. He wore what he always did, a combination of dark colors such as black and dark blue, and grabbed quick snack from the mini fridge in his dorm. He glanced at the clock; he still had plenty of time left, but he figured that he would go and wake up the dobe anyway. Naruto should wake up earlier more often. On his way out, Sasuke could not help but glance at the newspaper. He wondered if there was any new information on the whereabouts of Itachi. He quickly shook the thought and left his room with his mask present on his face.

He made his way down the hall and slowed until he came to a complete stop. Sasuke looked and did not find the brown, locked door that was usually there, but instead he saw directly into the darkness of Naruto's dorm. His gaze narrowed. He knew that Naruto was not a total idiot, even if Sasuke did underestimate his intelligence at times (he did not expect for him to be such a quick learner), so he found it odd that he left the door open. Maybe Naruto went out partying and passed out on the street from drinking. Even if there was hardly anyone to come around and steal anything, he knew Naruto had enough common sense to close the door. So, Sasuke concluded, something had to be out of the ordinary.

Sasuke stepped into the darkness and felt around on the wall for the light switch. He flicked the lights on and the room immediately brightened, previously dark due to the blinds being shut. His eyes scanned the room; he found a long surf board with a fox demon design on it tossed carelessly onto the floor, and Naruto was either passed out or sleeping on his bed. He raised his eyebrows and took a step toward the bed, stepping over some clothes that were haphazardly sprawled across the floor. A rather noticeable smell reached his nose, and it smelled damp, like when wet things did not dry properly. Sasuke reached the side of the bed, stared at the blond, and noted that he was in orange board shorts and there was a large dark spot surrounding him on the covers of the bed. Putting two and two together, Sasuke figured the dobe decided to take a midnight surfing trip.

His hands hung awkwardly at his sides, and he looked around the room before deciding he was going to wake Naruto up. He slowly extended his arm out with uncertainty, wondering if he should poke the big idiot until he woke up or just kick him awake. The latter, of course, would have been much more enjoyable, but there was something that did not seem right about Naruto. Sasuke lowered his hand back to his side and studied Naruto's face. He had seen the boy in front of him sleeping before, but he usually had a pleasant expression on his face, or was drooling or snoring slightly.

Sasuke took a step closer, and then carefully extended his arm out towards Naruto's face. He gently touched his forehead and immediately withdrew his hand to see whether or not the he would wake up. Nothing happened. Sasuke recalled the night when he had kicked Naruto and he had remained fast asleep, or passed out. Vigilantly, he brushed the damp golden locks away from Naruto's face and stared at him for a few moments. His eyebrows were furrowed, and he wore an expression that looked troubled and sad, though Sasuke was unsure of how he could tell. When Naruto was not prancing around like an idiot with a foxy grin planted on his face, he actually looked quite handsome, not that Sasuke would ever admit it to anyone, much less to himself.

"Dobe?" Sasuke asked carefully. He did not think that calling him that at a time like this was appropriate, but he did not know what else to say. He waited a short amount of time and nothing happened. Sasuke stared at the blond in front of him with his onyx eyes, then reached out and placed his hand on Naruto's toned, tanned arm, and tried to shake him awake.

"Naruto?" He asked again, and started to shake him harder, becoming annoyed that Naruto was not awakening, which was leaving Sasuke in an awkward position. He was just about ready to attempt the kicking procedure to wake him when a fit of coughs escaped from Naruto's mouth.

Sasuke took a step away from the side of the bed and watched Naruto as he slowly lifted his head, a few more coughs coming out. Once his head had risen a bit, he looked around and tried to figure out what was happening. Everything looked blurred through his blue eyes, and the fact that his overgrown bangs were covering his them were not helping much at the moment, but for some reason he felt too distressed to brush them away. He tried to get up, but his body ached and he ended up coughing some more. Naruto noticed that he was in his favorite pair of board shorts, that he wore no shirt, and that he lay on a damp sheet. Suddenly, he became aware of how cold he felt, started to shiver, and managed to sit up, looking up to find Sasuke there, staring at him weirdly.

Though he was still uncertain of what was happening, he knew that Sasuke typically was not in his dorm when he awakened. Naruto's shoulders sagged and he let his arms dwindle a few inches above the blue carpet, trying to recollect last night. He remembered being with his friends; there was drinking, dancing, and then there was Sakura. He lifted his head more, looked at Sasuke, and the whole night came flooding back to his memory in a jolt that overwhelmed him.

Sasuke stared at Naruto's movements; he seemed to be disconnected from his surroundings. He noted that his usually lively and bright blue eyes were half-closed and inexplicably bleak. Naruto finally took full notice of Sasuke's presence, seeming to fill with life again only a few moments later, and looked up at him with wide eyes. Sasuke did not know what to do but stare back at him, trying not to show his confusion. He could only wonder what had happened. The lifeless, depressed form in front of him hardly seemed like Naruto.

"Sasuke?" He asked, looking up at him, shivering. Sasuke nodded when he heard his name and realized how cold Naruto must be, since the idiot forgot to dry off from his surfing trip. Still unsure of what to do, he sat beside Naruto, ignoring the uncomfortable air of this situation, along with the feeling of his bottom on the damp sheets. Naruto buried his face into his hands and remained like that as gathered his thoughts, coughing occasionally. Sasuke's eyes suddenly widened more than his usual nonchalant stare before quickly returning to normal.

Here he was, sitting next to Naruto, and the dobe was not uttering a word. Sasuke felt an odd feeling churn in the pit of his stomach that made his chest tighten and made him feel even less comfortable. He realized that he was concerned for Naruto. He shifted in his spot. It was not that he had never felt the emotion before, but it had been a long time since anyone had gotten close enough to him for him to even consider feeling like that. Sasuke felt his hand move on its own and it placed itself onto Naruto's shoulder. His skin felt cold to the touch.

"Naruto, what happened?" He asked, waiting until Naruto removed his face away from his hands and looked at him before continuing. "Tell me," Sasuke demanded firmly, but kept the grip on Naruto's shoulder soft. Naruto did not do or say anything and sat with his bangs hiding his expression from Sasuke. He did not dare to move his hand and stared at Naruto with persistent onyx eyes. There was no way that he was he going to let this subject drop. Naruto finally raised his head and his blonde locks fell into place, looking at him with pained blue eyes. He seemed quite hesitant to speak, but opened his mouth to do so anyway.

"S-Sakura…s-she…and….the club…and…" He left his sentence unfinished and lingering in the air. Naruto glanced down briefly as Sasuke tried to figure out what those few words meant. He thought that something may have happened to Sakura.

"…Sasuke…" Naruto whispered softly. He hugged the said boy and buried his head into his shoulder. Sasuke stiffened and did not dare to move, but apparently his mind had other ideas. He twitched. Several times. Especially his eyebrows and fingers, and his left leg had a spasm or two. He finally stopped twitching, relaxed slightly, and through the awkwardness of the hug he slipped his arms around Naruto. He hugged him back, barely enough to constitute as a hug, and patted his back in an act to comfort him. Really, he had no idea what to do.

No longer did the optimistic and sunny blond smell earthly; he smelled of the sea instead. Not to mention that his leg was leaning somewhat on Sasuke's and the water from Naruto's shorts began to dampen his own. Sasuke took a deep breath and he hugged Naruto with more certainty, figuring that things would become better, the dreaded hug would end, and Naruto would tell him what had happened last night. That was what he had thought until he heard muffled sniffling in his shoulder.

Naruto hugged Sasuke tightly, unconcerned with how he would react, or if he would hug him back at all. He could not help it; he just felt a certain need to hug him. A feeling of sadness resided in the pit of his stomach and he still had no idea how any of this had went wrong. Naruto and Sakura had been together for such a long time. Somehow, she seemed to blame Sasuke for their separation. He had not done anything but be Naruto's friend. Sasuke was different from his other friends; even though he loved them very much, he just could not tell certain things to them. It was not as if their friendship was shallow, but it just felt different to him. He was glad that it was Sasuke who had stumbled upon him, and not anyone else. He did not know what he would have done if he had woken up this morning by himself. Naruto did not cry last night, and he never cried, not since he was a small child, but he suddenly felt tears stinging his eyes and he started to softly cry into his friend's shirt, staining the dark clothing with his tears. He knew that he was not crying because of Sakura, though. They stayed like that for a few more minutes, until Naruto stopped his sniffling. Sasuke glanced quickly glanced to his side; he saw Naruto lift his head and place his chin on his shoulder.

"It's good to have a friend like you around, you know?" He said softly and then sighed, embracing Sasuke tightly. He simply nodded and tried to fight the blush that was creeping onto his face. Finally, he felt the grip on him loosen. Naruto pulled away and Sasuke breathed small sigh of relief. He noticed that blue eyes were staring at him and he looked up. Naruto did look somewhat better than he did earlier, and he had a half-smile on his face, but it was probably forced. His eyes still looked uncharacteristically dull. Sasuke straightened up and realized that his shirt was wet from the Naruto's tears and his damp hair, and his pants were also wet from sitting on the sheets and Naruto's board shorts. It was highly uncomfortable. He stood up, and then glanced at Naruto, who attempted to grin back at him.

"Dobe," Sasuke said, "Why don't I take you out for ramen? You never told me what had happened." Naruto's brow furrowed and he lifted his head to look at his friend, who was acting somewhat out of character. He sighed and weakly smiled at him, nodding slightly. Sasuke stared at him. He was surprised at the lack of excitement and obnoxious shouts of 'ramen.' And he had thought that Naruto was becoming less gloomy. Sasuke could not admit it to himself, but he knew that deep within himself he had an urge to see the sunny and idiotic side of Naruto resurface.

"You should change and take a shower, Naruto. You're going to get sick if you stay in just your board shorts any longer," he suggested, making sure that his voice remained in its normal tone. He needed to make sure that Naruto knew that he was just offering some friendly advice, rather than being worried. Naruto merely nodded and stood up, becoming dizzy when he did so. He could feel his pulse throughout his entire body and he gripped his head as he made his way to the bathroom. He stopped in front of his closet and swung it open, taking out the first thing he found, not caring if it matched or not, as long as there was a shirt and some pants there. He waddled over to the bathroom and shut the door, glancing at Sasuke once with an indecipherable expression before he did so.

"Hey, dobe, I'm going to borrow some of your clothes," Sasuke said loudly so that the said dobe could hear him through the wall. All he heard in response was the sound of water shooting out of the showerhead. It did not seem like he had heard Sasuke, but he started searching through the drawers in the closet anyway. He highly doubted that he would find anything he liked in there, though to his surprise Naruto had less orange clothing than he would have thought. In his search for something suitable to wear, he had accidentally come across a drawer filled with Naruto's boxers, which he immediately shut (but he had it open long enough to see an orange pair with froggies on them) and some very strange (in his opinion) bondage pants with many chains and pockets. Seriously, he would have never guessed. Sasuke settled for some shorts and a polo, then walked over to the mirror and stared at his reflection for a few seconds.

He heard the screech of the shower stop and Sasuke waited a few more minutes, but nothing happened. He eyed the door for a while and Naruto never did come out, and he wondered if Naruto had forgotten that he was waiting in his dorm for him. Sasuke looked around the room, trying to find something to do. He ended up rolling the damp sheets into a ball and tossing them into the hamper, and then he picked up the long board and leant it against the corner of the wall. Sasuke was in the midst of blankly staring at the fox demon design when he heard the bathroom doorknob jiggle.

Naruto emerged from the bathroom with a horde of steam pouring out of the room after him. He walked, slouched over and with minimal effort, his feet dragging against the floor. Naruto fell down onto the bed, not even noticing that there were no longer any sheets on it (Sasuke had no idea where fresh ones were located). He sighed and stared at the space above him with half-closed eyes. His hair was still a little damp and got the mattress a little wet, but he did not seem to care. Naruto could not help but wonder if Sakura was just as forlorn as he was at the moment. Maybe, maybe not. She was crying when he left her outside the club last night, but she was the one who broke up with him, thus intending for that to happen. He sighed again and momentarily kept his eyes closed.

"Put on your shoes. Did you forget about Ichiraku Ramen already?" Sasuke said with a slight smirk. Naruto slowly sat up from lying on his back and smiled just the slightest bit, but it still did not reach his eyes. Sasuke frowned and watched him slip on his shoes. When Naruto was done, he looked at Sasuke, signifying that he was ready to go. He still was not speaking, which caused Sasuke to grimace even further. Now he was forcing Sasuke to be the conversationalist. He was unsure of how to get Naruto to follow him, but he knew he was not going to grab his wrist and pull him along. He just exited the dorm and hoped that Naruto would follow him. He glanced back, relieved to find that he was right behind him, staring down at his khaki shorts.

"Alright, let's go," Sasuke said, forced to be the one to talk again. "We'll go in my car." Naruto merely nodded and the two walked down the building's stairs in silence, towards Sasuke's 300zx.

* * *

Naruto stared out the window vacantly, watching the buildings pass by in a colorful blur. He stared with indifferent eyes and watched the people walk the streets in small groups, going in and out of stores. He sighed and leaned his face against the window, waiting for Sasuke to yell at him for doing so. It never came, so Naruto looked to the side from the corners of his eyes and he saw Sasuke gripping the steering wheel, looking straight ahead. Every so often Sasuke would glance at him, and then continue to make his way to the other side of the town. Quite honestly, Naruto was not in the mood to go out for ramen or anything like that. Earlier he had thought that he did not want to be left alone, but now all he wanted to do was head to his dorm and lay there, drown in his own pathetic misery for the next couple of days, or however long it would take for him to recover. Naruto slumped against the car door and pressed his face on the window even more, feeling the cold material against his skin.

Sasuke tightly gripped the steeling wheel and focused on the road ahead, fighting the urge to rip Naruto off his car's window and hit him until he was over whatever had happened. He still could not think of what could have possibly made him act like this. Maybe he did not know the blond as well as he thought he did, but it seemed completely unnatural for him to be this down. Quickly, he erased the thoughts and concentrated on driving, refraining from speeding as he usually did. They entered the clubbing part of the town, which Sasuke had never been to, except in the daytime. Suddenly his memory came alive. Yesterday Naruto had invited him to go out with his friends to the club, and earlier he had murmured the word 'club', along with Sakura's name. He glanced at the blond speedily. Naruto still had his face against the window, but it seemed that his shoulders had tensed as they passed the string of night clubs. So, he was right. Now, to crack the dobe.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Sasuke arrived at Ichiraku Ramen and Sasuke parallel parked in front of it. Naruto did not remove his head from the window, and he would have fallen over when Sasuke opened the door for him (It did not seem like he was going to open it for himself anytime soon) if he had not done it slowly enough to catch Naruto's shoulder, thus keeping him from toppling over. He pushed him back, so that Naruto sat upright in his seat, and opened the door completely, waiting for him to step out. "Hey, dobe, wake up. Get out of my car so I can get you some ramen," Sasuke said, hoping that statement would motivate the blond to get his ass moving.

In response, Naruto made some incoherent grumbling noises, slowly stepped out of the car, walked onto the sidewalk and stood there lamely, his arms dangling lifelessly at his sides. Sasuke's thin black eyebrow twitched and he went to close the door before dragging Naruto into the restaurant by the ear. They sat down in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant, where there were less people, so that perhaps Naruto would feel more comfortable to speak. Naruto grumbled when his friend let go of his ear and dropped him on the red seat, then headed to the other side to sit across from him. Naruto made a low growling noise and touched his red ear gently.

"Sasuke, you damned bastard. Don't do that again or I'll seriously get you," Naruto growled, but his voice still did not sound the same as normal. His tone sounded distraught and sad, but he was obviously trying to hide it. Sasuke glared. There was no point in trying to hide it when not so long ago Naruto had been crying on Sasuke's shoulder. The waitress, Ayame, came and Sasuke ordered for them both, ordering more for Naruto, of course. He figured he needed his comfort ramen. Then, he turned his gaze to the blond.

"So, Naruto," Sasuke began. "I want to know what happened, and I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." He leaned over, promptly placed his elbows on the table, and his chin in his hands, indicating that he was not going anywhere anytime soon. He stared at Naruto with obsidian eyes that could frighten most people, but Naruto did not seem to be affected at all. Sasuke sighed and leaned back into the red booth, closing his eyes briefly before admitting defeat.

"Insistent, aren't you? What makes you want to know so much?" Naruto inquired.

"I'm serious," Sasuke said flatly. "Now, please tell me." Just as he finished his sentence the waitress came back with a plate filled with bowls of different flavors of ramen. They silently watched as she spread the food out on the table, waiting for her to leave so they could resume their conversation. At least, that was how it was for Sasuke. Naruto was cringing in the corner, dreading the moment that she would leave. Once Ayame bowed politely and left, Sasuke expectantly cocked an eyebrow in Naruto's direction.

"Eat some ramen. It may make you feel better," he suggested. Sasuke watched the blond sigh and grab the chopsticks that came with the meal. He plunged them into his food and stirred the noodles around, without lifting his eyes from the bowl. Sasuke left his ramen untouched, waiting for him to eat first.

"You know Sakura, right?" Naruto asked casually, still playing around with his food. His eyes adhered to it so he would not have to look up at Sasuke's face. He knew it was a stupid question, but maybe he would not be forced to say it if Sasuke figured it out first. He slurped his noodles silently and waited for some kind of response. Sasuke nodded and he knew his assumptions that this had to do with Sakura were right. Of course he knew her, pink hair, Naruto's clingy girlfriend, and one of the most popular students on campus. She was somewhat hard to miss, since no one else had hair such as hers.

When Sasuke remained silent, Naruto stuffed some more ramen in his mouth to delay having to respond. The familiar taste and feeling of the noodles sliding down his throat relaxed and comforted him to a certain extent, making him feel at home. If he had a home, that is. Once Naruto finished, he pushed the bowl aside, folded his arms on the table, slouched over, and buried his head in them. He rested in that position for a while before gradually sitting up once more.

"Well, she broke up with me." He averted his gaze and stared at the carpet. He did not include the fact that she was screaming and blaming Sasuke for it. "Two years," he mumbled.

"What?" The words escaped his mouth before Sasuke even had a chance to comprehend what he was thinking. He processed the information and his eyes widened slightly before quickly narrowing again. He froze and his blood ran cold. That pink-haired slutbag was who made Naruto like this. _That fucking bitch._

"She dumped me, Sasuke. You're smart, so you of all people should know what that means," Naruto said, laughing humorlessly before his expression quickly changed. "I still don't really get why…" He mumbled and trailed off.

"Why? Why did she dump you?" Sasuke asked persistently, trying to get Naruto to look him in the eyes, but he kept on avoiding his gaze. Sasuke's mouth formed into a thin line and he kept his glare fixed on Naruto. Naruto could feel his eyes burning a hole to the back of his skull. He looked up with clouded and innocent cerulean eyes, meeting his stare without flinching.

"I don't know," Naruto lied, glancing down. When he looked up, he had a slight smile on his face. "You know how girls are, Sasuke." He grabbed a second bowl of the still steaming ramen and ate it as he always did, beginning to feel a little better. Sasuke was not helping all that much by going rabid on him, but he was just happy to have his company. That alone was making him feel better, actually. Also, it was rather nice to see him somewhat concerned, from what Naruto could tell, by dragging him out here in an attempt to cheer him up. His happy thoughts were interrupted when Sasuke gave him a rather fierce look.

"Oh, that's right. You're an asexual bastard. You don't get girls," Naruto purred and grinned slightly. He reached for a third bowl of ramen and started to slurp away, momentarily forgetting about Sakura and only focusing on the present, which was eating ramen with Sasuke. Or him eating ramen while Sasuke watched and got pissed at what he was saying.

"We went over this already…I don't like girls. They're annoying," Sasuke said blatantly. He stared at his bowl of ramen, watched his friend polish off his third bowl, and he figured that the dobe was on his way to feeling better. That was fast. Naruto looked up when he was finished and just smiled at Sasuke. It was not a fox grin, nor a smirk, nor the fake smiles he had been using thus far today. It was a smile that made Sasuke's insides churn and sent a strange sensation through him. He shrugged the feeling off and he decided it was about time he should eat his food. When he picked up his chop sticks to stick them inside the bowl, the ramen disappeared and his chop sticks hit the table.

"Oh, were you going to eat this? It's practically cold now, you know," Naruto said slyly, licked his lips for affect, and dug in. Sasuke leaned back into the chair and crossed his arms tightly. He was not even hungry, so he did not bother to care. But he did care about how much of a hole the dobe would burn through his wallet.

"Whatever. How much are you going to eat exactly? Don't forget I'm paying, dobe," Sasuke reminded him. Naruto did not say anything and started to finish off the bowl that he had swiped from Sasuke Once he was done, he grinned menacingly across the table at his friend, and then ordered more ramen. Torturing Sasuke was fun, and making him twitch was well worth the glaring and death threats that he was sure to receive later.

"So," Naruto began conversationally, deciding to change the subject and have a little more fun. "You said you weren't into chicks, but what about dudes, huh?" He cocked a blonde eyebrow and looked at his friend expectantly, then added in an eyebrow wiggle and a stupid grin. "You never said anything about that. Of course, it wouldn't keep me from hanging out with you or anything if it was true, if that's what you're afraid of." Naruto closed his blue eyes, leaned back, and crossed one arm over the other, holding the chopsticks in one of his hands as he spoke. He peeked at Sasuke through one eye and smiled at the expression on his face. Sasuke knew that he was on the brim of blushing, but he forced himself to glare instead. His damned Uchiha Pride could not take this from an overly large idiot.

"Stop asking stupid questions, dobe," he said flatly.

"Aw, don't be that way," Naruto purred into his ear. Sasuke jumped back and turned to see that Naruto sitting right beside him, on his side of the booth, smirking at him. He did the only thing he could do; he went back to his default setting of glaring. Sasuke cursed under his breath; he had not even seen Naruto get up. Ayame returned with the next round of ramen before quickly dispersing and leaving the two boys alone again at their booth. "It's nothing to be ashamed of." Naruto laughed tauntingly.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something and then quickly clamped it shut. He eyed Naruto suspiciously with his black eyes and then crossed his arms across his chest, sliding to the very corner of the booth and leaning his back against the wall, so he could face his friend.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that you're gay?" Sasuke asked coolly. That could not be true though; he had dated Sakura for two years. That was not the point, though. He was not even sure how the conversation had gotten here in the first place.

"No, I'm bi. I win both ways," Naruto smiled brightly at Sasuke, who gawked at him. He was not really all that sure of what he had heard escape from the dobe's mouth. Sasuke blinked, and then stared again. Naruto had sounded proud when he had said that. Sasuke knew that he was staring, but he really could not stop. Naruto stared right back, and then raised an eyebrow in question.

"You, Naruto Uzumaki, are bisexual. Is that right?" Sasuke asked.

"Well yeah...but, I mean…I prefer girls. I mean, I was dating Sakura after all. But that doesn't mean I haven't had my share of crushes or anything…I've never done anything more than make out with a dude before. Nothing past that really. Er...I mean I've never really told anyone or anything like that and it's not like my affections were ever returned or anything. Do you want to eat the ramen now?" Naruto shrugged and gestured in the direction of the steaming bowls of noodles set neatly on the table by the waitress. Sasuke stared for a few seconds longer, then grabbed some chopsticks, and started to slowly and quietly eat the noodles. He was not practically drowning himself with them like his idiotic friend. He rolled his eyes at Naruto's stupidity, but found himself smiling slightly at it at the same time. A chuckle escaped his lips and Naruto whipped his head around to glare at him.

"What are you laughing about?" Naruto asked, holding his glower steadily and suspiciously.

"Nothing that you need to know, dobe. So, you went surfing on an emotional rage, right?" Sasuke asked suddenly and continued to slowly eat his bowl of noodles. Naruto blinked, caught off guard, and nodded his head, wondering why he would be asking that. It was palpable that Sasuke just was not the curious type.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Naruto asked carefully, looking at him with his shining cerulean eyes. Sasuke noted that they no longer looked dull or clouded anymore; they had regained their vitality.

"Because I want to learn how to surf." His answer was simple, and he waited for his friend's reaction. Naruto spluttered and choked on the ramen that he was currently attempting to eat. Once he got it out of his throat and effectively swallowed it, he turned to his friend, looking somewhat confused.

"You want to learn," Naruto repeated dumbly.

"I just said that. Pay attention, dobe." Sasuke smirked. He stared at the blond and noticed a mischievous glint in his eyes, and not soon after he saw his trademark fox grin appear on his features.

"Sure you can handle that?"

"Do you think I would've said so if I wasn't sure?"

"Alright, then." Naruto looked at Sasuke and went back to his ramen, but this time more slowly, like he was not starving to death. He smiled in the midst of eating and peeked at Sasuke from the corner of his eye, and noticed that he too, was smiling.

* * *

(A/N): I don't know if I said this in some other chapter or what, but Ichiraku's is now a restaurant. They don't have those cute little stands where they live, sadly.


	7. Winking Perverts

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own anyone in Naruto. I don't own Naruto. I don't own Sasuke. But Neji is a PANCAKE EATER omfg.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, SUS-PI-COUS!Neji, winking perverts, Bitchy!Sakura, and unconditional ranting. (As if that's new)

_For the love of NaruSasu, review!_

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVEN: WINKING PERVERTS**

Neji checked his watch for the fourth time in the past three minutes. He could not help his impatience. He was usually the person who sat calmly, staring at the scene before him with indifference, without a problem with waiting. Neji would be the one shaking his head at the others for being impatient. But this time was different. He could handle a reasonably long amount of time without becoming too annoyed, but a few hours was just a tad too long. Two certain people that were boyfriend and girlfriend with each other were extremely late and they were not answering their phones. He stuffed his hands back into the pockets of his pants, only to take them back out less than a minute later to check his watch again. Now this was becoming extremely vexing. Naruto and Sakura were nowhere to be found.

They had this outing planned for a few days and it unlike them to be so late. Neji did not mind being stuck there with Gaara and his mango ice cream, since Gaara was rather patient, absorbed in eating his succulent orange dessert. On the other hand, he supposed that Ino, driven by boredom and exasperation, was trying to entertain herself and getting ideas. Or perhaps she was just being her usual perverted, cheery self, Neji could not tell. He did admit that such a thing could be one of the possibilities for their absence, though it seemed less likely, and somewhat unreasonable. His two friends had all day yesterday to do whatever they pleased, since the three of them assumed that Sakura and Naruto had left the club together two nights ago. None of them could remember that well. Neji had been repelling horny girls at the bar, Ino had gotten incredibly drunk as usual, and Gaara had wandered to the third floor of the club. Neji was not completely certain, but they had not heard from either of them yesterday, and they had not cared, since they were preoccupied with dealing with their hangovers.

He stared at his watch again. Ten more minutes had passed. He sighed with exasperation, closed his eyes, crossed his arms tighter, and leaned against the wall behind him. He was no longer in the mood to spend time with his friends; he just wanted to return to his mansion and lock himself in his room before leaving for the night. Gaara finished his ice cream and tossed the cup somewhere over his head. He scanned his surroundings with his green eyes, trying to find something with which to occupy himself. Finally, Ino halted her chatting, sighed, and plopped down onto the bench, sitting beside Gaara.

"I'm sooo bored. Where are Naruto and Sakura?" She whined and stretched out her legs, earning a few stares from civilians as they passed by. Some of them looked like they were about to drool and others covered their children's eyes as they quickly walked away. Ino had never bothered to be decent. She yawned, looking from Neji's constant watch checking to Gaara's slow blinking, then slumped over, feeling her muscles relax. She frowned when no one answered her and waved a hand in front of Gaara's face. His cold gaze slowly turned in her direction.

"What?" Gaara asked, wondering what she could possibly want. Neji turned his attention to them and cocked an eyebrow at the two in question. Ino leaned over again and tried to contain a yawn, but she miserably failed.

"I said I was bored. Why don't we just go leave and do something fun?" The cheery blonde suggested with renewed energy, and sprang up, spreading her arms towards the sky. "Come on, we can't just sit here all day and wait for Naruto and Sakura," she continued on, firmly placing her hands on her hips. She rolled her periwinkle eyes, giving them a knowing look concerning how they felt. Neji did not miss the small, mischievous smile that slowly appeared on her features.

"I'm sure we don't want to interrupt all the fun they're having," Ino purred. She could not resist letting out a giggle. Neji almost felt like slapping his own face at this. He slowly blinked, keeping his creamy eyes hidden for some time. When he opened them again, he looked up, and a small smile settled onto his lips. Gaara turned his head towards Ino.

"Not this again. I don't know why you think like that," he said in a dismissive tone, indicating that he had no desire to hear any more of it. Neji did not move from his leaning position against the wall. He sensed that soon Gaara would become irritated. Knowing Ino, she would press on for that very reason. Neji was uncertain if he should stay out of it and watch, or if he should stop it before anything happened. For now, he decided that he would just let things unravel.

"I don't know how you don't think like that. It's only logical, Gaara-kun!" She said happily, placed her arm around his shoulders, and leaned her head on his chest. Gaara froze, his gaze narrowing, and he attempted peel Ino off of him. Ino just sprawled over him further and she started to laugh at his efforts. Gaara gave Neji a look that could communicate his message of 'fucking help me now!' to a complete idiot. Neji rolled his cloudy eyes and he did not move an inch.

"Get off of him, Ino," he said blatantly. She flicked her white-blonde ponytail, responded with a pout, and reluctantly crawled off Gaara. Ino exploded into a fit of laughter and she clutched her shaking body. Once her laughter died down, she was met by Gaara's fierce green eyes.

"Of course it's always fun to bother me," he said and tightly crossed his arms. The intimidation that he radiated was destroyed when he had to yawn. Ino sat back down on the bench again and sighed, remembering that they were still waiting for Sakura and Naruto to appear. Neji stood his ground and refused to sit on the bench with his two friends. He had enough of waiting for the couple. He turned to face Gaara and Ino.

"Why don't we go out and get pancakes or something? We've been waiting so long that we skipped breakfast," Neji suggested, since they had nothing else to do. Two pairs of eyes stared back at him. Gaara looked like he was considering the idea, but he was not that hungry since he had eaten his mango ice cream not long ago. Ino, though, started laugh at his suggestion. The two boys stared at her weirdly, wondering how she managed to find that statement amusing. Expect Ino to be the one to turn a very sane suggestion into something hilarious. Eventually, she caught her breath and quieted down, then let out a content sigh. Neji narrowed his gaze and Gaara just seemed to lose interest.

"What's so funny?" Neji asked, staring at her with his impervious eyes. Ino noticed him, met his gaze, and started to giggle. He frowned and his brows furrowed slightly. Neji looked directly into her periwinkle eyes until she said something.

"Jesus, Nej. Don't get all evil-eyes on me," Ino snorted, then began to lightly giggle. "I just never knew that you liked pancakes so much. I didn't see you as they pancake-eater type." She ended her sentence with a scoff and barely contained laughter. She toppled over and her head landed with a thud onto Gaara's lap. He stiffened, and his gaze darted down to stare at her ominously. Neji was ready to actually slap himself, skipping the mental part of the entire self-slapping process. He checked his watch again and sighed in frustration. Ino must have been extremely bored laugh at him for suggesting pancakes. What the hell.

"Get off of me," Gaara demanded. He let his glower do the rest of the talking. Ino was oblivious, refusing to budge. It went on like that for a few more minutes. Gaara restrained himself from pushing her away throughout the time he spent glaring at her. Ino began to make comments about Neji being a pancake-eater, and of course, Neji wanted to get the hell out of there. He sighed and surrendered.

"Fine, whatever. We'll go eat waffles. Is that any better?" He spoke in all seriousness, without words dipped in sarcasm or an eye roll of annoyance. Ino curiously raised her head and looked at him with thought evident in her periwinkle eyes. Gaara took the chance to push her off him, and then he stood up without wasting any time. Ino became so strange when she was bored.

"Ouch, Gaara!" She whined, standing up. She brushed imaginary dirt off of her miniskirt and she smoothed the wrinkles on her tight shirt. Ino balanced herself on her heels, and then sent a glare at Gaara. He met her gaze and she swore that he almost smirked at her. Ino sighed and turned her attention to Neji. "So, waffles, is it? I'm for that," she said. She placed her hands on her hips and cocked a thin blonde eyebrow, waiting for their responses.

"I'm not that hungry, but whatever. As long as it's food," Gaara stated. He started to walk in the direction of the nearest place that served waffles. Ino practically cheered and she chased after him, something that Neji found impressive in her heels. He sighed, started to follow his friends, and he eventually caught up with them. The three friends formed a wall as they walked, forcing passers-by to move out of their path. They had nearly arrived at the diner when Neji thought that he saw a familiar flash of golden hair.

Neji thought correct. Naruto was running up to them rather quickly, his sunny whipping about wildly with his speed. He did not bother to brush his hair away from his face as he ran. His favorite orange jacket fluttered in the wind behind him. Neji stopped walking and it took a few moments for Gaara and Ino to notice that he did so. They halted, followed the direction of his gaze, and found themselves looking at Naruto. He waved frantically at his friends to make sure that they took notice of him. He only began to slow when he was nearly directly in front of his three friends. Neji, Ino, and Gaara stepped closer, forming a semi-circle around him.

"Naruto!" Ino squealed happily. She was always the first to speak up and greet someone, aside from Naruto, of course. He grinned at her and opened his arms his arms for the girl to jump into them. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and a small hug before releasing him. After they had separated, Naruto noticed the mischievous sparkle in her eyes and the suspicious smile that she wore. He glanced speedily at Neji, giving him a confused look. Neji just shrugged in response.

"Hey everyone…and uh…" Naruto greeted his friends, and then looked at Ino with his eyebrows knit. "Um...I just have to ask, what are you smiling at, exactly?" He queried.

His cerulean eyes widened slightly as her smile grew larger. She titled her head to the side, seeming to be inspecting him, which only left him more confused. She circled him once and her brow furrowed; Naruto figured that she could not find whatever she was looking for. Ino frowned, scanned her surroundings, and could not find a pink head in sight. She plastered a grin on her face and turned to face Naruto.

"Well, where is she? I mean, you two did spend all day yesterday together, right?" She questioned, her silly smile still present. Naruto just stared at her. He had no idea of what she was talking about. Sasuke was the only person he had been with yesterday. He looked at his friends' faces, searching for more information in their expressions, but blank stares were all that he received.

He inwardly sighed and settled for asking the typical, "Um…What?"

"She means Sakura. We figured that she would be with you," Gaara said nonchalantly. Now that they mentioned it, Naruto noticed that the pink-haired girl was absent today. That was somewhat odd, since she was always punctual. He considered that something may have happened to her or that she was avoiding seeing him. It appeared that Sakura had not even contacted anyone after they split. He was just about ready to slap himself. Naruto remembered that he had not yet told his friends what had happened between himself and his former girlfriend. Uncertain of how to word it, he decided to be direct as possible.

"Oh...yeah, about Sakura…" Naruto murmured. He glanced downward and scratched the back of his neck. Neji perceived his sudden drop in attitude and he eyed his friend skeptically. Naruto lifted his head and his over-grown bangs flopped over his eyes. He forced a grin onto his face and his friends looked at him with concern.

"We...broke up..." Naruto said, keeping the grin on his face, but it was obviously faltering. Neji noticed that he was not making eye contact with them; Naruto averted his gaze whenever it crossed paths with the regards of his friends. Neji was unsurprised, for the most part. He had sensed this coming and he had noticed the gradual change of behavior between the two, signifying that they were growing further apart. He knew that it would have happened sooner or later, but he could not say the same for his friends. Gaara's eyes became wider than his usual narrow gaze and his arms fell out of their crossed position. Ino stood there dumbly, her expression filled with shock.

"What?" Ino screeched, looking at Naruto with worry. He tried to wear a smile but he forfeited when he realized it was not working. He looked at his friends and nodded in conformation of his previous statement.

"That can't be true! Oh, Naruto, are you okay? When did this happen? Why didn't you tell us?" A slew of questions poured out of her mouth. Ino immediately flew to his side, touching his arm in consolation, without knowing that someone else had beaten her to it. Before Naruto had a chance to speak, Gaara interrupted.

"Ino is right. Why didn't you tell us?" The red-head queried, narrowing his eyes. He was not trying to sound angry with Naruto. Neji nodded in agreement and the three of them looked to the blond, waiting for him to explain. Naruto sighed and sat down on a nearby bench.

"I'm still not really all that sure how it happened but…it was the night that we were at Krave. I ran off because I had…something important to do early in the morning, she got mad, and then...I don't know. I went surfing…woke up, and Sasuke really helped me out…" Naruto trailed off and he smiled lightly when he remembered his friend. Sasuke probably had no idea how thankful Naruto was that he was there when he had awaken on that gloomy morning. He had actually done well in comforting him. Naruto straightened his posture, feeling an improvement in his mood, and a real smile appeared on his face. He did not seem to notice the three pairs of eyes staring at him.

Neji was taken aback by the sudden mood swing and slowly cocked one eyebrow. Though he had predicted the separation, he had not expected Naruto to be smiling soon after he had left the person he had been with for the past two years. Neji was no doubt suspicious, wondering what part the Uchiha played in all of this.

Naruto met the eyes of his friends and grinned. "It's okay guys," he said, leaning back into the bench. "I'm fine. Like I said, Sasuke really helped me out."

Ino just stared from her current spot next to Gaara. She did not understand what was happening, especially after the mention of Sasuke. She dismissed the thought and sat next to Naruto on the bench, looking ahead in contemplation. Screw eating waffles, after this she had to search for her best friend, Sakura. Ino admitted to herself that she was slightly bothered over the fact that he went to Sasuke instead of them, but not enough to voice it. She was too worried about Sakura.

Though, it showed that Gaara was bothered by it. His arms were crossed again and his green eyes were more narrowed than usual. He looked at Naruto, who was now speaking with Ino, and wondered how someone like the blond could seem to recover so quickly. At least, he appeared fine on the outside. Gaara could not help but wonder what exactly Sasuke had done. It perturbed him because he knew that he would not obtain an answer.

"Alright, everyone, so let's go do something. We're all here to hang out, aren't we?" Naruto said as he halted his conversation with Ino and faced his friends with his distinctive fox grin. He stood up from the bench and Ino followed after him. "What were you guys doing before I even got here, anyway? It's not like you did nothing the whole time." He said and crossed his arms, observing his friends' faces. Ino and Gaara quickly exchanged glances.

"We were going out for waffles. Care to join us?" Neji asked with a small smirk.

"Of course, lead the way, Nej." Naruto smiled and bowed slightly, gesturing for his friend to guide them. Neji walked ahead, closely followed by Gaara, who was incoherently mumbling something about his hunger. Ino followed, but somewhat reluctantly, since her thoughts still lingered on Sakura. Naruto was the last to start walking towards the diner. For a moment, he remained behind, looking at his friends with a pleasant expression. He was so glad to have them, and he was glad to have Sasuke as well. He pursued his friends, who had already disappeared inside the diner. They already sat in a booth near the window, deciding on which waffles to order. Naruto opened the door with a jingle of a bell and he strolled over to the booth to join his friends. Sakura never came.

* * *

Naruto sauntered into his class and took his seat at the front. He collapsed into the chair and yawned, his cerulean eyes scanning the class. He noticed that he was the last one to arrive, as always. Professor Hatake was writing on the enormous dry-erase board and some of the perfectionists began to take notes. Naruto decided to do the same, but he checked on a friend first. He twisted his body and looked behind himself to the far left corner of the class. There Sasuke sat, looking down and taking notes. Naruto continued to stare at Sasuke until he noticed his eyes on him. Sasuke lifted his gaze and he became aware of Naruto's stare. The blond smiled, lifting his hand in a small wave, and Sasuke subtly returned the smile.

Professor Hatake tapped his new meter stick on the board to gain everyone's attention. Naruto was forced to turn around and face the front of the class, but not before he felt an angry pair of emerald eyes boring a hole through him.

Naruto slunk down into his seat, reminded that Sakura was sitting somewhere behind him and she would be glowering at him for the entire hour. At that moment, all that he desired was to escape from the room. He straightened himself, remembering that it was she who left him. He resolved that he would not allow Sakura's new attitude towards him to affect him. More so, he would not let it show until he became accustomed to it. Naruto had a secret talent of being a capable actor. Sasuke had not failed to detect Sakura's livid stare at his friends back. He narrowed his gaze at her.

Their silver-haired professor tapped the board once more. Sakura halted her seething and turned her attention to Professor Hatake, which mean that Sasuke could halt his glaring. Temporarily, at least. Naruto looked ahead and he noticed that a brunette girl stood in the front of the class. She chomped quite visibly on some chewing gum and wore an icy face that could kill. Everyone in the room stared at the new girl, but she did not seem to be phased. She stood with indifference and blew a large bubble with her gum. Professor Hatake's eyes formed into happy curves and he placed a hand on the girls shoulder.

"This is Shinkei Mesuinu, everyone. Due to some complications, she just transferred here." He failed to mention why, though. It could not be for any good reason. "Please welcome Mesuinu-chan to Konoha College," he addressed his students in a content tone.

"Mesuinu-san, you mean." She faced the rows of people in the large room with a cold stare and popped a bubble. Their professor looked at her and raised a silver eyebrow. He had used honorifics to be polite, not because he was obligated to. He disregarded it and scanned the room, looking for a suitable place to seat her. In the far back corner of the class, a space was available beside Sasuke. Kakashi glanced at a bored-looking Naruto and smiled, deciding he would have a little fun.

"Mesuinu-san, you can take that seat over there." He pointed to where Naruto was sitting, or more accurately, slumping. "Naruto, move to the empty seat besides Sasuke," Professor Hatake said in a jolly tone. Sasuke tried to hide his slight surprise. He was suspicious of Kakashi's motives. Shinkei left in the direction of Naruto's seat with a curt 'whatever' and a pop of her gum. Naruto seemed to suddenly come alive and he stared at his professor with a confused expression. Shinkei arrived at his seat and crossed her arms, impatiently waiting for him to move.

"Professor Hatake, why of all people are you moving me?" Naruto asked, staring at him with large blue eyes. As soon as a certain smile appeared on his professor's face, he immediately regretted asking. Everyone who had Kakashi as a professor knew that was the smile that he had on his face whenever he read his 'exotic' books.

"No reason, really. I just happened to notice how much time you two have been spending together as of late, so I thought that I'd do you two a favor," he said smoothly and he smiled like there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. Naruto asked himself if there actually was anything wrong with it. He remained uncertain until his pervert-professor confirmed it by winking at him. Far in the back of the room, Sasuke tried not to blush, very aware of what his professor was implying. "Now please, move to your new seat besides Sasuke before Mesuinu-san gets impatient." Kakashi smiled and leaned on his new meter stick. A few people in front of the class ducked just in case.

Naruto's brows knit and he mumbled a few things before deciding that he had no choice. It was not as if he did not want to sit beside Sasuke, though. Shuffling noises of people turning around at once filled the room, and Sasuke could feel many pairs of eyes on him. He wanted to bang his head against his desk because he had to try very hard not to blush. The stare he felt the most was that of Sakura; he could feel the anger radiating from her body. Naruto walked towards his new seat with a weird expression on his face as Shinkei sat down in his old seat. Everyone in the room looked at Sasuke Uchiha like it was the first time they had ever seen him, and in a way, it was.

* * *

(A/n): Eww, my shortest chapter yet. I'm soo sorry about the shortness. I think its cause I decided to take out a scene or something. To me, this chapter worked better without it. And about the Neji pancake-eater thing…I was watching that helio commercial…so I hope that explains the randomness.


	8. Mr Whiskers

I'm going for two hundred reviews, baby! Feed me 'em.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto, and you should know that by now.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, face painting, and tattoos, man.

_Please review when you're finished reading. :)_

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT: MR. WHISKERS**

With the ending of Professor Hatake's class, everyone rushed out of the halls of the campus, going outside and meeting with their companions in the main courtyard. The small groups of students always gathered in the same designated spots, never daring to enter another's territory. In each cluster of people, they were huddled together speaking in hushed voices, especially the females of the groups. Naruto was one of the last people to exit the building, as always, and headed towards the spot where he always met up with his friends. It lay beneath a few palm trees that created a lovely shaded spot to lie down in, and was right beside the large fountain in front of the college. He looked around and he saw that most people's eyes were on him. It seemed that everyone's mouths stopped moving and that they fell into silence all at once, before quickly exploding into renewed conversation. Naruto noticed how everyone around him seemed to be distrusting and socially intolerant. Somehow, it had never struck him before.

He knit his brows and he continued to walk, feeling a little more than uncomfortable. For once, he had no desire to be the center of attention. The loud noise of a car engine made his ears perk up. Naruto slowly turned his head towards the direction of the noise and he saw Sasuke's black car departing in the direction opposite of the campus. That somewhat confused Naruto. After their class had ended, Sasuke had left without a word, instead of waiting for Naruto as he always did. Sometimes, if Naruto did not have previous engagements with his friends, they would walk to their dorm rooms together. He wondered why Sasuke had left with such haste.

Not so far from where Naruto stood, Gaara, Ino, and Neji were speaking to each other. As soon as they saw him, their hands shot up and the three of them waved. He frowned when he noticed that his pink-haired ex-girlfriend was also there, but she had fallen silent as soon as he came into sight. Sakura had not bothered to wave, either. He had to admit that he was slightly disappointed that she was still angry about their split. Sakura did not even allow civil words to be exchanged between them. If they were constantly going to be around each other due to their mutual friends, it would only make sense to try and befriend each other. In reality, though, Naruto thought that would only make things more awkward, so it was best to leave it as it was. He would not mind if Sakura halted her glaring, though.

Naruto was about to increase his pace when a small group of girls with tight, tiny shirts and short miniskirts seemed to appear out of nowhere and crowd around him. He assumed that they must be Ino-wannabes. He cocked an eyebrow, questioning their reason for approaching him.

"Naruto...uh...I was just wondering…people have been saying that you and Sakura broke up. Is that true?" One of them asked him with wide, hopeful eyes. She bit her lip and laughed nervously when she noticed that sex-on-legs Naruto was not responding. She had not tried to sound happy about it; she really hoped that she did not.

Naruto stared at the girls in front of him and he reflected on their words. It was true that he and Sakura had separated, but they did not need to know that. He inwardly sighed, remembering that he was under the relentless, watchful eyes of the social scene of Konoha City. He was in no mood to talk to them, but he decided to play along and act nice instead of telling them to leave him alone.

"Yeah, why?" He asked, staring at them with blue eyes and a curious face. Naruto tilted his head to the side, appearing to look thoughtful.

The girl that spoke to him earlier stared at him with a gaping mouth and wide eyes, and then she turned to her friends for a group-squeal. Naruto sighed, letting his eyelids drop half-way down, and slumped over slightly. This was becoming exasperating. He wanted to do nothing more than eat some ramen before pestering Sasuke about his quick departure. He watched as the girl who seemed to be the leader of the pack of friends recollected herself and took a few deep breaths. She smoothed her hair and turned to face him. Naruto stared and waited for her to speak.

"So, you're single, right?" _Not for long_, she wanted to add, because soon Naruto-kun would be all hers. She tried to sound sexy when she said that.

"Um…well yeah, most people are after they break up with someone," Naruto said pointedly and looked at them with a blank expression. He quickly glanced to the side from the corners of his eyes to see that his friends were staring and waiting for him. Sakura had stood up, left, and was now talking to one of their other friends, Kiba. Naruto was looking at his friends quite conspicuously, but the girls seemed oblivious to that.

"Oh, of course," she said, quickly covering up for herself, and smiled sheepishly with a light blush tingeing her cheeks. "I'm sure that someone with your looks and charm will get another girlfriend soon. I wouldn't worry about it," she continued. "Soo…would you like to go out with me somewhere tonight?" She stuttered a bit, and then received glares from her friends. Naruto continued watching the unraveling scene before him as she met them with an equally forceful glower. The blond had just been nodding his head and going along with it, until she had asked that question. He seemed to snap awake at the last comment and he looked at them with renewed energy.

"Sorry, I can't," he said, smiling apologetically. "I'm hanging out with Sasuke tonight. It's real important. Maybe some other time?" Naruto flashed an attractive grin and waved quickly. He was about to leave when one of the girl's voices interrupted him. He turned to face her.

"Oh, my god. I didn't think that those rumors could be true. You are spending too much time with that weirdo Uchiha kid," she said condescendingly, stating the conformation of her discovery and looking at him with wide eyes. The other girls exchanged glances. Naruto blinked, taken aback. He had become confused enough for one day. So, there were even more rumors flying around about him. He shook his head in disbelief and he felt like banging it against a wall at the moment. It was too frustrating; he wondered why they could not leave him in peace. Yet again, he sighed, but aloud this time.

"Yeah, that _is_ true. What's so great about that loser?" Another one of them said with a huff, tightly crossing her arms and looking away with annoyance. The others made angry grunts of agreement and they all turned their attention to him with their wet pig-eyes. Naruto just about had it with these girls. He gritted his teeth a bit and his lips pressed together to form a thin line. He _really_ had to go and catch up with Sasuke. To get rid of them without having to be mean, he quickly wrote a false cell phone number on a piece of paper he ripped out of his binder and shoved it towards one of the girls.

"Bye!" Naruto shouted and ran off in the opposite direction before they could start squealing with glee.

By the time he was on his floor in the dorms, he realized that he had forgotten to approach Ino, Neji, and Gaara. Sometimes he wished that he was not such a fast runner, since it left him no time to think. Within himself, though, he knew it probably had not been that, but instead he had acted on impulse and he had wanted to find Sasuke. Naruto took the long way to his room so he could pass Sasuke's dorm and he pressed his ear against the door. He heard no one inside and quickly scurried to his room, trying to rid of the feeling of resembling a stalker. Naruto occupied himself with counting the dots on the ceiling and waxing his surfboard until he heard the roar of an engine and footsteps coming down the hall. He flopped onto his stomach and laid flat on his bed, waiting before paying a visit to Sasuke. He did not want to seem too anxious. Once he felt that he waited long enough (which was less than five minutes), he hopped off of his bed and swung open his door, making his way down the hall.

Naruto walked quietly, trying to make his steps as light as possible. Though the reason for his visit was rather important (when was it not?), that did not mean he could not have some fun with it. He stood silently in front of the door, raised his tan hand, and formed it into a fist, a mischievous grin slowly appearing on his face.

"_Sasuke_!" Naruto sing-songed as loudly as he could, slamming his fist against the wood of the door. His loud knocks were interrupted by the sound of papers swishing and a loud 'thump' noise of something falling onto the floor. _Or maybe, someone_, Naruto mused and his grin changed into a rather evil looking one. He promptly placed his hands behind his back, trying to make his face grow serious. He failed horribly, though. From inside the dorm, an agitated grunt was heard, along with angry stomps across the floor. They halted in front of the door, and after that, there was silence. Naruto's blue eyes flashed; he knew that Sasuke stood there, unwilling to let him in.

"What do you want?" Came his growling voice from the other side of the wall. At this, the blond smirked, but transformed it into a cheeky smile. He made sure that his voice sounded as cheery as possible.

"Oh, nothing really. Can I just come in and can you tell me why you ran off without saying anything?" He said in the same tone. Sasuke stood, puzzled, yet angry, at the other side of the door. He figured that Naruto would chase after him, but by the way he had said that, he could not tell whether or not Naruto was serious. Sasuke narrowed his coal black eyes, glaring at him through the door.

"No," he stated simply, refusing to say much else.

"Please?" Naruto asked, leaning his body against the door and pouting. "Or do you want to force me to do a B and E?" He grinned against the door, knowing that Sasuke had no idea what that meant. He did not take him as someone who watched comedy shows. Sasuke knit his eyebrows and stepped back in confusion.

"What?" Naruto heard Sasuke's voice ask from inside the room. He smiled triumphantly when his assumptions were proved correct.

"That means I'm going to kick your door down and enter your dorm, bastard. Remember how well all this went last time it happened?" He reminded him, his eyes turning into happy curves, much like Kakashi's would. Naruto smiled as he remembered the night that he met Sasuke. Sasuke had been such a bastard, yet it was very entertaining to be around him. It was still the same, but now the two of them were friends. Naruto chuckled, thinking about the slender, pale boy shuddering while he remembered that night. What was unbeknown to him, though, was when Sasuke did remember it, he tried to scowl but his face unwillingly formed into a barely visible smile.

Naruto heard him taking a few steps forward to twist the doorknob. He blinked his cerulean eyes for a moment and he observed how he was leaning all of his weight against the door. Sasuke never gave him a warning, and before Naruto had a chance utter a word, the door opened and he fell into the room. He had expected this to go much differently. When Sasuke opened the door, Naruto was supposed to wear a triumphant grin and tease the boy, then make him blush (since that was always so cute) before sauntering in. Naruto was not supposed to fall and crash into Sasuke, landing in a tangle of limbs on the floor with him on top. He was pretty sure that Sasuke had not expected to have all-muscle blond crash down on him either.

Naruto lifted his head from something dark blue and sneezed. His nose wrinkled at the overwhelming scent of peaches. He rubbed his nose and he noticed the dark blue object was his friend's shirt. He felt black eyes on him. Naruto stared at the stiff Sasuke beneath him who did not dare to move. He did a double take and looked at himself lying on him, with his arms to the sides of the Sasuke's head. _Under me_. Now there was something wrong with this picture.

He glanced at his friends face again and he noticed his irregular breathing and his red face. Sasuke remained completely rigid. Naruto figured that he was on top of Sasuke's chest, thus preventing him from breathing. He quickly realized this, rolled off the other boy, and stood up, smoothing the wrinkles on his shirt. Of course Naruto did not know this, but that was not the reason why Sasuke's breathing was irregular. He lowered his head so his bangs covered his reddening face and began to sit up.

"Sorry about that," Naruto grinned sheepishly, a faint shade of pink on his cheeks, but it was barely there. He offered Sasuke his hand and he blinked when the boy ignored it and stood up on his own. Sasuke seemed to be more focused on smoothing the wrinkles on his shirt rather than his friend. Naruto's gaze narrowed and he scoffed, retracting his hand that had been hanging awkwardly in the air.

"Bastard," he cursed under his breath and glanced at his friend from the corner of his eye. Sasuke was finally lifting his head.

"No need to say that, dobe," Sasuke said, looking up him. Naruto blinked, temporarily ignoring the insult in his sentence. His face was still a little pink and…oh my god…was that an odd glint in his eyes? He shook the thought out of his mind and his golden locks swayed as he did so.

"After all, that type of thing is typical for you, now isn't it?" Sasuke smirked. Naruto blinked dumbly and he knit his eyebrows for a split second before realizing what he had said.

"Hey!" He shouted, narrowing his eyes. Naruto Uzumaki would not stand to be insulted by anyone, especially this certain Uchiha. So, he did the first thing that came to mind. The blond grabbed the nearest pillow, whipped it at Sasuke, and stuck out his tongue. "Take that back or you'll get more of your peachy pillows to your face," he grinned mischievously as he said that.

Sasuke removed the pillow from his face and scowled, his hair somewhat disheveled. Even if it was just a pillow, that thing had stung like a bitch. Perhaps the dobe exercised at the gym in his spare time. Sasuke put the pillow to his side, not wishing to start a fluffy (and rather girly) pillow fight with Naruto. He considered hurling some other item from his room at him, but he did not feel like replacing objects.

"Shut up, dobe," he growled. He grabbed the newspaper from his night table and plopped down on his chair. His eyes scanned the words as he read it, but he was not processing the information. In the back of his mind, he knew he was looking for something on Itachi.

"Don't call me that," Naruto said and walked over, snatching the newspaper from Sasuke's grasp. He frowned and attempted to snatch it back from him, but the blond held it higher and out of reach from his arm. Naruto was inwardly laughing and he tried not to show it as he looked at the frown on his friend's face. Yes, teasing Sasuke never did fail to amuse him. He had to fight a smirk that threatened to appear on his face. As soon as he began to fail and the corners of his mouth started curling upwards, Sasuke glared.

"Give me that," Sasuke snapped, quickly reaching up and grabbing the newspaper. Once he had attained it, he stuffed his raven head back into it. Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, and a few seconds later, Sasuke spoke up. "Why are you here anyway? Why don't you just leave?" He said, biting his lip. He mentally slapped himself when he realized that he had reminded the blond about what he had come here for in the first place.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed. "Thank you for reminding me, Sasuke-kun," Naruto purred seductively into his ear, smirking when he shuddered. His fox-grin appeared on his face and he pulled away from his friend's ear. His grin suddenly faded and he crossed his arms, his gaze narrowing.

"Why'd you run away from me? You seemed in such a rush to get away from me," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. He then eyed his friend suspiciously, but he could not see his expression. Stupid little bastard Sasuke kept his head buried in that newspaper. "Is there something wrong? You seem okay to me." Naruto frowned and yanked down the newspaper. Sasuke immediately let go in fear of the newspaper ripping when he had not yet finished looking through it (He could not seem to find any news on his homicidal elder brother). Naruto squatted down so that he was eye level with Sasuke and he met his gaze. He tilted Sasuke's chin upwards and he inspected his face. Sasuke had no idea what Naruto was doing, but he did know that the spot where his hand was touching him would not stop tingling.

"Nope. You seem pretty well. Now, answer my question." Naruto's hand dropped and he aimed his glare directly into Sasuke's pitch black eyes. When he did not receive a response, he glowered more fiercely. Sasuke just stared unswervingly into the narrowed cerulean eyes with one question running through his mind. _What did he mean by pretty well?_

"Well?" Naruto pressed.

Sasuke decided that this was a good time for him the answer Naruto's question before he started shouting, flinging peachy-pillows, and 'B and E'-ing…whatever that meant. "Do you know that there are rumors about us?" He asked, sitting up somewhat straighter.

Naruto let go of his glare for a quick moment and glanced to the side, recalling the girls that he ran into not long ago. Yes, he did know this. He pouted and stared at Sasuke accusingly. So that was his brilliant reason for leaving so hurriedly. "Yes, of course, but we know they aren't true," he said pointedly.

Sasuke grabbed the newspaper again; left it folded on his lap, and shifted in his seat. Naruto had a point, but that still did not mean that all this was not hurting his damned Uchiha pride, and he could do without all of the unnecessary attention. "Damn Kakashi," Sasuke cursed under his breath. "Whatever, just don't hang around with me so much in public anymore," he murmured in a barely audible tone. He leaned back in his chair as Naruto stared at him. His curious expression took no time to form into a frown. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he plopped down into the 'Sasuke only' chair beside his friend. Naruto did not mind at all how cramped it was with both of them in the small seat, nor how Sasuke was nearly on his lap from the lack of space. He draped his tanned arm around Sasuke's waist and patted the small of his back.

"That'll be a little hard, now won't it? After all, I do sit next to you in Professor Hatake's class." Naruto smiled and he moved Sasuke fully onto his lap. Sasuke blushed profusely and he was about to protest when the blonde's laugh interrupted him. "What? Your Uchiha pride hurting, bastard?" Naruto laughed again and ruffled Sasuke's hair fondly. Sasuke slapped his hand away and he quickly slid himself off of Naruto's lap. He moved to the other side of the room to sit on the bed. Naruto pouted and looked at him with pleading blue eyes, but his lips cracked into a grin soon enough. Sasuke just glared and crossed his arms.

Naruto placed his elbows on the arm rests and smirked at the glare that his friend gave him. The two of them sat in silence for a while. Naruto seemed to be lost in thought. Sasuke grabbed the newspaper again and began reading until his friend's loud voice interrupted his train of thought.

"You know," Naruto started, looking at Sasuke thoughtfully. "You treat me no different from when we didn't know each other and you wanted me to die." He remembered the looks that Sasuke gave him the night he 'kidnapped' him and took him to the bar. If looks could kill, Naruto would already have been slaughtered many times. Of course he had been able to tell that Sasuke had wanted him dead so he would leave him the fuck alone. Naruto flipped over on the chair, his feat where his head was supposed to be, his hair dangling towards the blue carpet.

"I suppose so, but my death threats have reduced quite a bit, haven't they?" Sasuke asked without looking up from what he was reading. He wondered what Naruto was trying to say.

"I guess…but you still call me a dobe." Naruto put on the best pout that he had and he knew that he looked cute. This time, Sasuke looked up at him and stared at his face for a minute before his lips slowly formed into a smirk.

"You take it that hard? It's more like a nickname than an insult."

Naruto immediately perked up and an innocent look took his face, but his eyes seemed taunting. He tilted his head to the side, flipped over again, and crawled back onto the chair, lying across it this time, his feet hanging off the armrests and his arms up behind his head. "Do I get a nickname for you?" He asked, smiling.

"No."

"How about Uchiha-Bastard?" Naruto raised his eyebrows and he maintained the innocent face. Insert evil glare from Sasuke. "You take it that hard?" Naruto teased, using his own words against him. He smirked and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling, but he could feel his friends glare still on him. He turned his head to the side and he cocked one eyebrow, wearing a nonchalant expression. "You don't like that, hmm?" More evil glares from the raven-haired boy across the room. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Here come the death threats!" He exclaimed, throwing up his arms in fake exasperation, and then collapsing back onto the chair overdramatically. If he really wanted to, Sasuke was pretty sure that Naruto could make it as an actor. Sasuke scoffed and he glanced at the pillow on his bed from the corner of his eye. It was becoming very tempting.

"I will dispose of you later, but how about 'Sasuke'? You know, my name?" The said boy glowered. Naruto smiled and flipped over again, propping his elbows on the arm rest and placing his head in his hands. He figured that Sasuke's default setting just had to be 'glare'.

"Well, how about Naruto, for me, then?" He suggested.

"Shut up or I'll maim you, dobe," Sasuke said, deciding to throw a death threat in there and to use the word he had specifically told him not to call him. Sasuke mused contently, but he quickly stopped when he realized how much Naruto was influencing him. He glanced down again and continued to read the paper. Naruto got up from the chair and sat next to Sasuke, putting an arm around his shoulders. He smiled foxily and turned himself towards Sasuke.

"You wouldn't maim me. I'm your friend!" He exclaimed and leaned backwards onto the bed, taking Sasuke down with him. A small noise of surprise managed to escape Sasuke's lips as he felt his back hit the mattress. He rolled his head to look at his sunny friend beside him with annoyance _.Yeah, I guess so, Naruto_. Before he knew it, his face formed into an uncharacteristically warm smile.

Naruto looked in surprise at Sasuke's sudden change in attitude. There was an odd feeling inside of him; inexplicable happiness swirled in the pit of his stomach. He turned away from Sasuke. Naruto smiled to himself, rolled off the bed, walked over to the closet, and opened the sliding door. He began looking for something to distract him. If Sasuke smiled at him like that again…he ignored the thought and he continued to focus on the task that he had assigned himself. Naruto heard shuffling as Sasuke sat up and stared at him. He knew that he should be mad, but for some reason he only felt the need to be confused.

"What are you doing?" He asked, blinking.

"I dunno," came the barely audible reply from Naruto. He mumbled a few things to himself and continued to dig through the items in the closet. "Looking for something," he said simply.

Naruto tilted his head with curiosity when he found something in the back of the closet. Naruto grasped the ink and brushes that he had found and reappeared from the dark depths of Sasuke's closet. If he was in a cartoon, this would be the moment in which the light bulb above his head illuminated. Quickly he lunged for the newspaper which Sasuke had been reading, he spread it on the floor, and placed the ink and brushes on it, as Sasuke looked somewhere in between being dumbfounded and glaring.

Naruto swished the brush around in the ink and lifted it up, watching the black liquid slowly drip onto the newspaper below it. He grinned and patted the spot next to him, signaling for Sasuke to come down from his spot on the bed. Suspiciously, he crawled onto the floor and sat next to the blond, who was once again swishing the brush in the ink. Naruto quickly turned around, grabbed Sasuke's face before he had a chance to think, and raised the brush up to it carefully.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke repeated, growling, but he did not move his head from Naruto's light grasp on his chin. Naruto sighed, leaned over a bit more, and flicked the brush in his grasp. A few spots flew onto his and Sasuke's shirts, but he could not have cared less. His tongue peeked out of the side of his mouth and his eyebrows knitted in concentration. Sasuke felt something cool touch his skin. He was about to slap Naruto's hand away when he interrupted him.

"Shut up. I'm painting on your face," Naruto said dismissively as he concentrated. He continued to move the brush and Sasuke sat there, taken aback by his nonchalant tone, allowing him to continue drawing on his face. Naruto had said that like it was so very normal. He moved to Sasuke's other cheek and then his forehead before leaning back and admiring his work.

"Beautiful!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning, and flicked the paint brush again, sending ink flying. He closed on eye, formed a picture-frame shape with his hands, and looked at the 'beautiful' artwork on Sasuke's face through it. He gave him a thumbs up and Sasuke raised his hand to touch the ink on his face.

"No, not until it dries." Naruto yanked Sasuke's hand away from his face, and then suddenly jumped up. "I'll be right back! Don't you move!" He ordered before swinging the door open and disappearing down the hall, running. For some reason, Sasuke remained seated and listened to him. He wondered what the hell the dobe had drawn on his face. Tempted, he turned his head in the direction of the bathroom and considered going to look in the mirror.

He heard rapidly approaching footsteps and he whipped his head around, his raven hair flying all over his face. He glared in the direction of the door, where his friend was bound to be standing.

"Say cheese!" He exclaimed and pressed the button on his digital camera, a flash of light emitting from it. He laughed when he saw Sasuke stumbled back in confusion, blinded by the sudden, bright light. When the little purple dots in his vision cleared, he was not surprised to see Naruto standing there with a camera in his hands, laughing his ass off. Immediately, he glared at him.

"Sasuke! You have to see your face!" Naruto said in between laughs and ran over to his friend, plopping down on the floor next to him.

"Let me see that!" Sasuke demanded. Angered, he lunged for the camera and snatched it out of Naruto's now weak hand, since he was doubled over laughing. There Sasuke was on the screen, his eyes wide and a confused expression on his face, with a circle and a square on his cheeks, and a fairly large, lopsided triangle on his forehead. He was so going to get that damned Uzumaki for this. Sasuke was about to press the delete button on the digital camera when Naruto snatched it back.

"Okay," Naruto said, still recovering from his laughing attack. He took a few deep breaths before continuing on. "Your turn!" He handed Sasuke the ink and brush and sat down with his legs crossed. He closed his eyes, looking very serious, waiting patiently for his friend to start. Sasuke took it, stared, and the deliciously evil idea of drawing something utterly ridiculous on Naruto's face crossed his mind.

Naruto cracked one sky-blue eye open and looked at him. "Are you going to paint on my face or what, bastard?" Sasuke quickly snapped out of his thoughts and sent him the Uchiha Death Glare. The blond quickly snapped his eye shut and sat completely still, an impressive feat for him.

He had no idea what to draw. The thought of drawing something ridiculous on his face became increasingly appealing, but he could not come up with anything. Sasuke started to think about Naruto. His personality, his foxy grins, and how his voice could be so low that it was practically a purr…Without thinking about it, Sasuke's hands started to move, and he drew three neat, thin lines on each side of the blonde's face. He pulled away and inspected the work he had done. It was simple, but good. Really good…somehow, it suited him. Not to mention, it made his features seem more prominent and he looked more handsome than before, if that was possible. Now Sasuke was certain that he was losing his mind.

"Okay, you're done," Naruto heard his friend say in his usual monotonic voice. He snapped his eyes open and immediately rushed to the mirror, raising his eyebrows at what he saw. Three whisker-like marks on each side of his face.

"Hmm…" He made a thoughtful noise, inspecting his face. Naruto placed a hand on his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully, carefully touching the now dry ink lines on his face. "Wow," he said after a while and stared at himself in the mirror. "These make me look really good." He turned at different angles, inspecting himself, and his eyes never left the mirror. _Hell, yes_, Sasuke could not help but agree with him. He grabbed the camera, walked into the bathroom, and stood beside his friend, who was still checking himself out.

"How do you think I look, Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Good, now stop staring at yourself like a self-infatuated male model," he smirked at his own comment. He cradled the small camera in his hands and then placed it on the counter. Naruto turned to him.

"Awww, thanks Sasuke. I'm so flattered you think I look like a male model." Naruto smirked and pinched Sasuke's pale cheek. He spluttered slightly and he felt face heat up, fighting a blush. He seriously had to stop doing that.

"I never said that, dobe," Sasuke said, narrowing his gaze. Naruto dismissed it with a smile on his face, then draped his toned arm over Sasuke's shoulders again and pulled him towards himself.

"C'mere," Naruto said and made a grab for the camera. Sasuke pulled his face away from the blonde's chest and shifted into a more comfortable position that did not involve so much contact between the two of them. Naruto lifted the camera and smiled brightly towards the lens, winking and sticking his tongue out. When the light flashed, Sasuke had his default-setting expression on; he was frowning.

Naruto went through the pictures and located the one he just took and laughed, the whisker-marks Sasuke had painted on his face crinkling up whenever he smiled. He lifted his head and watched Sasuke stroll over to look at the picture.

"This is so going in a picture frame," Naruto said and laughed, tucking the camera away in a pocket of his pants. Sasuke smiled and started to laugh lightly along with Naruto, since it just seemed so contagious. They stood in the bathroom laughing together and Sasuke started gasping for breath and Naruto clutched his stomach. They did not know why they were laughing, really, but they knew that they could not stop. Naruto cracked an eye open and looked at Sasuke, laughing harder when he saw him. He had never seen him like this before, sure, there was the occasional chuckle or scoff, but he had never really loosened up and laughed. He had to say, it was nice to see that.

Just when Naruto thought they were about to hit hysterics, Sasuke started to calm down from his laughing attack. As it got quieter, Naruto did the same until they stood there, catching their breath and smiling at each other. Suddenly, a great idea popped into Naruto's head. One last time, he glanced at himself in the mirror and inwardly smirked.

"You just gave me an idea, so now I have to get going. I bet you'll be surprised when I come in to class a couple of days from now. Bye, Sasuke! It was fun hanging with you, by the way," Naruto said and abruptly started to walk to the door before Sasuke even had a chance to process his thoughts. He quickly followed after him and he saw his blond friend paused in front of the door, unmoving for some odd reason unbeknown to him.

"Wait. What? Where are you going? What ideas?" Questions poured from Sasuke's lips, demanding answers.

"You'll see soon, and before I go, I gotta do a B and E!" Naruto said, grinning with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He saw an utterly confused look cross Sasuke's face, not remembering what the term meant. Now Naruto was sure that he had never watched Dane Cook before. Naruto slowly lifted his leg, stuck it out, and kicked the door forcefully, knocking it down. He speedily waved goodbye and sped down the hall, his laughs filling the hallway. Sasuke just gaped. He had not expected that. What the hell was that? He supposed it was a 'B and E', which apparently translated to 'kicking your poor friends freaking door down and running off with insane, maniacal laughter'. If he was not going to kill Naruto before, he was definitely going to do it now. After he washed these shapes off of his face, that is.

* * *

It was that day. The day Naruto had said that he would come into Professor Hatake's class with a surprise. Well, it was indeed Naruto who had said that, so Sasuke was not entirely sure if it was true, since he could just be trying to mess with him. And get him all anxious to find out what it was. And head to his class earlier than usual, start fidgeting around, and digging his fingernails into his seat. Or maybe even make him look at the door every time someone walked in, expecting to see his blond head and the surprise. Not that Sasuke was doing any of that, of course. Sometimes, though, it disturbed him how Naruto could get to him like this when no one else could.

In the midst of spacing out, Sasuke failed to notice how silent the class had grown and the footsteps approaching his seat. He heard the sound of someone sitting in the seat beside him. Sasuke lifted his head and he saw everyone staring in his direction, yet again. He hoped this would not be a repetition of the last time he was in this room. His obsidian eyes scanned the classroom and he noted that the only person that was not looking was that bitchy delinquent, Shinkei, or whatever her name was.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto's said, and by the tone of his voice he could definitely tell he was grinning that fox grin of his. Sasuke scowled and glanced around suspiciously. There was no reason to be staring at him today.

"Hey, Naruto, do you know why they're all staring in our direction?" He asked, then looked up to Naruto's face and gaped. Now it was quite obvious why everyone's eyes were on them. The whisker-marks that Sasuke had painted on Naruto the other day were on his face. Except it did not look like ink, it looked permanent, like a tattoo. A tattoo that made him look damn sexier. Sasuke could swear, all the girls in the class were swooning, and even through Sakura's angry and surprised look, he could see that her cheeks were the color of her dreadfully pink hair.

"Hmm…I don't know. Any ideas, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, a very fox-like grin planted on his face. Now he knew exactly why he had chosen to draw those whisker-marks on his face. Everything about him reminded Sasuke so much of a fox. Naruto leaned back with that same look on his face, planting his feet on the top of the desk. Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes; his ego was growing too large.

Everyone continued to stare until Professor Hatake made his way into the room, late as usual, and threatened the class with his brand-spankin'-new meter stick if they did not turn their attention to the board right that second. The class obliged, but occasionally someone would glance back. Sakura did so about every few minutes, looking like she could not believe her eyes. It seemed like the green monster of jealousy held her in its grasp more tightly than before. All throughout class, Sasuke sat up somewhat straighter, glad that he was the one to originally draw the marks on his face. An arrogant smirk settled nicely onto his features.

Once the class was over, Naruto stood and gathered his things, eagerly accepting all the stares he received from everyone. He smirked, walked out of the room after saying goodbye to his gray-haired professor, and wondered why Sasuke was taking so long to get out from his seat today. Usually he was out before him. Naruto dismissed the thought and he walked towards his friends' meeting spot. The sight he laid his eyes upon made his haughty smirk falter. Sakura was standing in a circle with Gaara, Neji and Ino. He did not have to be there to know what she was telling them. Naruto moved closer and closer, now able to clearly see his friends' reactions.

"What? Why didn't he consult us first?" He heard Ino say, sounding disappointed. Just by her tone of voice he could tell she felt left out.

"No. He couldn't have done that," Gaara said, narrowing his eyes. He crossed his arms and glared daggers at Neji's shoe.

"I know!" Sakura screeched angrily. Naruto had no trouble identifying that she was definitely the most irritated out of all of them.

"Hm. Quite a surprise, isn't it?" Naruto stopped walking towards them when he heard Neji's velvet voice. He sounded as if he had no problem with everything, which was odd, based on his other three friends' responses. Actually, he was uncertain if his ex-girlfriend counted, but regardless. Naruto smirked and increased his pace, imagining Neji looking at them with his indifferent white eyes.

* * *

(A/N): For those of you that see this chapter as a filler, its not. Well, kinda. I need more fluff before the 'main thing', as I call it, happens, and Naruto needed his whisker thingies too. Also, if you look closely, squint, and tilt your head to the side, you can see plot developing in there!


	9. Only You

Kisses to my 200th reviewer, xXSakakiXx chu :3

I said there would be hot guys surfing, and hot guys surfing there shall be, but not just yet. You see…even behind all this fluff there is a little something that I call plot. So I must save the surfing until chapter 14, to be precise, in order for the plot to go on. Enjoy chapter 9 of Smile!

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I am not Masashi Kishimoto.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, freakishly long chapters, ExtraBitchy!Sakura, and hot guys in tight wet shorts. Time to drool.

_Review or else I will go insane!_

* * *

**CHAPTER NINE: ONLY YOU**

The sun had risen high enough for thin rays of sunlight to make their way through the blinds in Naruto's dorm. Of course, they had chosen the exact spot where the blonde's limp head lay to shine. Unconsciously, his hand reached for the nearest thing to cover his face from the brightness, unwilling to be awakened from his slumber. His tanned arm hung in the air, reaching for nothing, and slowly he began to awaken as his face grew warm from the light. Half asleep, Naruto felt his hand touch something soft; he yanked on it, and fell over with a loud thump. In a jolt, he sat up with wide blue eyes, suddenly springing to life. He glanced to his side and he noticed that he was holding a ripped-off piece of his curtains, rather than the pillow that he expected to see in his hands. A throbbing pain made itself noticeable and Naruto gripped his head, wincing slightly, coming to the conclusion that this was the after affect of his wake-up call, which was falling off of the bed and hitting the floor. Hitting the floor very, very hard, to be precise.

Naruto yawned and he rubbed his head through his hair in the spot where it had made contact with the floor. He placed his hand on the bed and used it to help himself up from the floor. He removed his hand from the back of his head, ignoring the pain, and he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes. A familiar, and not to mention annoying, light made its presence noticeable by yet again by shining brightly onto his face. He knew that he was always full of energy and a rather sunny person, and even though some people may have thought so, he was in no way a morning person. Angered, Naruto made his way across his dorm, stumbling over a few things that were haphazardly scattered across the floor, and stopped when he reached the spot in front of the window that was bothering him.

He could hear the musical chirping of the birds singing a tune that sounded oddly familiar to him and the sounds of the city awakening. Currently, he hated it. Irritated, Naruto tugged at the blinds and he smiled sleepily when the rays disappeared, plunging his room into darkness. He made his way across the room and he was about to collapse back onto his bed when he noticed that he could still hear those stupid birds singing. Wait, those were not the birds. Naruto wondered how he could have thought they were birds because one, he lived in an overpopulated city, and two, birds simply do not sing Right Said Fred's 'I'm Too Sexy.'

Naruto headed in the direction of the noise and he found himself in front of a pile of clothes. He began to dig through it and he discovered his orange cell phone in the pocket of some random pair of jeans that he wore the other day. Quickly, Naruto extracted the phone from the pocket and he checked who was calling, seeing an unfamiliar number. He dismissed it and he flipped it open in one fluid motion, bringing the phone to his ear. He was not in the mood to be answering calls from a random person that had somehow attained his cell phone number.

"What?" Naruto asked, sounding irritated. It was silent for a few seconds and he heard some shuffling on the other side of the line. He narrowed his gaze and he glared at nothing in particular, wanting to get on with this and then hang up.

"Naruto…?" A hesitant voice asked. Naruto did not recognize the sound of the voice, particularly because it was so hesitant. The thought crossed his mind that it was one of his timid fan girls that looked like they were going to faint at any moment when they talked to him. His heart beat began to quicken and he hoped that it was not one of them. Did he write his real phone number when he was in a rush last week instead of a fake one?

"Yes?" He asked in a small voice, somewhat apprehensive.

"It's me," the voice seemed to suddenly grow bolder and more confident with the conformation that it was indeed Naruto, "Sasuke." Naruto blinked his blue eyes a few times, taken aback. Sasuke's voice sounded different over the phone, so that explained why he had not recognized who it was and the unknown number. He knit his brows in confusion as several different questions ran through his mind, namely, why was Sasuke calling him?

"Sasuke? Why are you calling me? Where the hell did you get my cell phone number from? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Naruto shouted into his phone, gripping it tightly. He needed those answers now, dammit. It was silent for a second or two and he could envision Sasuke's egotistical smirk slowly settling onto his features.

"Relax, dobe." Naruto pouted when he heard his friend's smooth voice use that stupid, arrogant tone of his. "It's not illegal to call you, it doesn't matter where I got your number from, and I do in fact have an idea what time it is," Sasuke said, answering each question slowly.

Naruto sighed in exasperation, stood up from his kneeling position on the floor, and started pacing around the room, a habit he had whenever he talked on the phone. Not to mention, he also had to blow off some steam since he was still annoyed about being awakened so early, even if it was partly his own fault. No doubt the Uchiha would have called and his ring tone would have woken him up, anyway.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto sighed again. "So, I know there's got to be a reason for you to be calling. I don't think you're the type to call someone this early just because you up and felt like it, eh, Uchiha?" Naruto purred the last part into the phone. There was some shuffling heard on the other line and he fox-grinned in satisfaction. It was just too easy to make Sasuke blush.

"Whatever," came the curt response. There was a moment of hesitation before Sasuke continued. "Anyway…the reason I called…You know…you remember that one time when we went out for ramen after you and Sakura broke up, right?" He asked. Naruto walked back over to his bed and he flopped down on it backwards. He made a noise of agreement into the phone and nodded slightly, remembering that one experience himself.

"You said you would teach me how to surf, so, why not today?" Sasuke asked.

"Seriously?" Naruto blurted out instantaneously. He had not been expecting that at all. It was a little more than unusual for someone like Sasuke to invite him to anything. Usually he was the one against it. Naruto realized that Sasuke was becoming significantly more open to their friendship lately. He hopped up from the bed and glanced down at his tanned body, clad only in his boxers. He was not exactly dressed for the day, but it was the beach.

"Of course I'm serious. Do you think I would ask if I wasn't?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Yup. I guess so," Naruto said, laughing lightly. "So, anyway, it's on, Uchiha," he said, happily making his way to the other side of the room. He grabbed the remote control and he turned on the television, flipping to the local weather channel to see if today was surfing weather. He no longer cared that he had been woken so early this morning, it was worth it. He was causing Sasuke to loosen up and they were going to spend time together at the beach. A little dude inside of Naruto's head started to do a happy dance. The dancing quickly stopped when the television stated that today was not a good day for surfing.

"But we don't have to surf, more so, we can't, or we shouldn't," Naruto said, frowning a little bit.

"What? Why?"

"Not a good day for surfing. Too many rip tides and what not, or something like that. We don't want your first time out there to be on rough seas, now do we?" Naruto teased. He started to laugh and with one hand he slipped out of his boxers and he pulled on his board shorts. He strolled into his bathroom and pressed the phone onto to his shoulder as he quickly shaved his five-o-clock shadow. Sasuke sent him a glare via the cell phone.

"Well, what are we going to do at the beach if we're not going to surf?" He asked, frowning.

Naruto kept his cell phone to his ear with his shoulder as he applied a thin layer of sun tan lotion and started to toss random things into his beach bag, such as a towel, a beach ball, a stereo, and his ipod. When he heard his friend's comment, he rolled his bright cerulean eyes. "Jesus, bastard, don't you ever go to the beach? We'll do other stuff, and I'm not telling you what since that'd ruin all the fun." He smiled brightly, his newly-attained whisker tattoos curving upwards as he did so.

"Okay," Sasuke said flatly, sounding very unconvinced. "Just meet me out in the hall when you're ready." He heard a knock on his door, turned his head towards the noise, and walked towards the door with the phone still to his ear. His pale arm extended towards the doorknob and he opened it, looking up to meet blue eyes. Naruto stood before him, clad only his board shorts and brown flip-flops, a beach bag slung over his shoulder, and a cell phone pressed against his ear.

"I'm already there," Naruto said into his phone, allowing a smirk to appear on his lips.

At this, Sasuke glared, and for a moment he considered slamming the door in his face, but he decided against it. Slowly, a smirk found its way onto his features when he thought of something better to do, or rather, say, in response.

"Hey, dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"I told you not to call me that." Naruto pouted.

"I got your number from some of your fan girls."

* * *

Naruto walked down the sidewalk, his brown flip-flops clacking rhythmically against the concrete path. He was holding a large beach bag that he stuffed with who knows what for his little trip to the beach. Not to mention, he was going there with Sasuke. A light breeze tousled his bangs and he pushed them away from his eyes. From the corner of his cerulean eyes he checked to make sure that his raven-haired friend was still walking behind him. The beach was just around the corner, so yes, yet again, Naruto had made Sasuke walk all the way there. He did not see the point in taking a car, really. He checked once more to make sure that Sasuke was still there, even if it had been his idea in the first place. Naruto thought he looked like he was going to turn around and run back to the dorms any second now. Maybe it was because of all the looks that he received which made him uncomfortable. Naruto dismissed it and stopped walking, waiting for Sasuke to catch up.

If the stupid board shorts that the blond idiot had lent him had had any pockets, he would have stuffed his hands in them long ago to avoid having them dwindle uncomfortably at his sides. It was not as if Sasuke did not have any swim shorts, but they were quite old since swimming around in salty water had never appealed him too much. Last time he went here had to be ages ago, back when…He quickly pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He was not here to recall memories of what his life could have been. No, he was here to hang out with Naruto, who was currently strutting down the street shirtless. Apparently, Naruto had thought that it was a good idea to make Sasuke do the same, thus resulting in the stares he was receiving. He did not know why they were looking at him. Sasuke huffed and he realized that Naruto had stopped walking. He did the same and he raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why did you stop?" Sasuke asked flatly. He made the evil eye at a group of girls walking on the other side of the street that were whispering, giggling, and pointing to him and Naruto. Sasuke turned back to face the blond, awaiting his answer. Naruto met him with look that unmistakably said 'Did you seriously just ask that?' He had both his eyebrows raised and his eyelids down half way.

"Why are you walking all the way back there?" He gestured towards the area behind him, where Sasuke had been walking. "Walk next to me like a normal best friend would. Got that, Uchiha?" Naruto asked, keeping his eyebrows raised and emphasizing the pronunciation of every syllable in his friend's surname. When Naruto finished speaking, Sasuke retained his typical apathetic expression. No one would know that, on the inside, he was gaping at what the whiskered-boy had said. Too many thoughts and questions started running through his mind at once and he could barely handle it. Just because the dobe had called them best friends…Were they really? Sasuke had just become accustomed to the idea that they were plain old friends.

Naruto was giving him an expectant look and awaiting his answer. He crossed his arms and watched as Sasuke slowly nodded his head and then cleared his throat.

"Right, I got it," he deadpanned. Regardless, Naruto noticed that his voice came out sounding somewhat strangled and not as monotonic as usual. He dismissed it and he patted the top of Sasuke's head, ruffling his raven hair.

"Good, now let's get going. The beach awaits us!" Naruto fox-grinned and enthusiastically proceeded on his way, dragging Sasuke along by the arm until he finally met his pace and stayed beside him.

They walked the rest of the way in companionable silence. Naruto made sure that Sasuke was glued to his side and he was happily accepting all the stares from the female population (and the occasional guy). The glory of being single. With one blue eye he looked at his friend. Sasuke was being his typical self, ignoring the fact that he was also receiving stares.

He directed his gaze ahead once more and he saw the sandy beach and vast sea in the distance, cerulean water reaching past the horizon. The sound of the waves crashing down onto the beach filled his ears, and he could smell the salty air that signified the presence of the Pacific Ocean. The temperature dropped and the cool ocean breeze blew against Naruto and Sasuke, making them shiver slightly. It was nothing that basking in the heat of the sun could not fix, of course. Naruto recognized people from his college here. Girls played volleyball in their skimpy bikinis, people lay on their towels with a stereo beside them, and couples sat on blankets, having a nice lunch on the beach. Slowly, his lips formed into a smile. This could be called his home away from home, even though he did not consider his dorm his home. The two boys crossed the street and they felt their feet touch the hot, soft sand. Naruto's smile only grew wider. Sasuke, on the other hand, shifted uncomfortably. He lifted his foot and he stared at the small grains covering it and his flip-flop. Ew.

"Pick a spot, any spot," Naruto sing-songed. "It's your choice, Sasuke." Eyes that matched the sea directed their attention towards him, staring at him in anticipation. Sasuke scanned his surroundings and he settled on a spot that was near a jetty and away from the obnoxious college students living it up on the beach.

"Over there," he pointed a pale finger towards the spot. He left no room for a second opinion and started to march across the beach towards it.

Naruto stared at the marching figure of Sasuke ahead of him and a deliciously evil idea came to his mind. Slowly, a wide grin spread across his face and he started running towards him. He quickly gained speed, the toned muscles in his legs flexing. Once he was close enough to Sasuke, he playfully slapped his back, catching him off guard. "Good choice, ya bastard!" The blond shouted, his eyes forming into happy half-circles. He ran off towards their spot carrying his beach bag laughing his ass off, as expected of the whiskered-boy.

Sasuke regained his balance from jerking forward and he stood up straight, glaring in Naruto's direction. He leaned over, growling, and he picked up his now sand-covered towel. Practically falling face-first into the sand after a blond idiot whacked you was not good for anyone's pride, especially not that of an Uchiha. Sasuke regained his composure and he continued on his way to his spot. No way in hell was he going to start screaming curses wildly and tackle Naruto to the ground, no matter how much he wanted to. People he recognized from campus were already staring and whispering.

Naruto spread out his towel on the smooth sand and he dropped his beach bag beside it. He pulled out a large umbrella and stuck it into the sand forcefully, opening it up so the world could see its rainbow colors. He then walked over to his bag, pulled out his stereo, connected his ipod to it, and played music. With all the noise on the beach, though, someone could only hear it if they were very close to their spot. Naruto sat down on his towel and he put on a pair of shades. Sasuke just stared before he spread out his towel on the ground slowly. He sat down on it, silently refusing to do anything other than that.

Naruto fox-grinned and turned his head towards his friend, who just scowled at him in response. Naruto stuck out his tongue childishly and started to tap his foot to the music that was blasting from his stereo. He kicked off his brown flip-flops and they landed haphazardly in the sand, a foot or two away from their spot. Sasuke did the same and neatly placed his sandals beside his towel. He stared at Naruto for a moment and silently glowered at him, still irritated about how he had slapped his back.

"So, what are we going to do, if we're not going to surf? You said you had an idea," Sasuke said.

Naruto lowered his shades and stared at his friend, his blue eyes only partly hidden. He tapped his fingers to the music and swayed his head to and fro. He stood up and he grinned toothily at his friend.

"I do indeed have an idea," he announced. Sasuke could tell that behind the dark glasses his eyes were curved up in happy half-circles. "A brilliant one, at that," he added, then suddenly bent over and reached for Sasuke's arm. He smirked inwardly when he saw that Sasuke was trying to conceal the small amount of surprise from being pulled up abruptly. He did not think that Sasuke had noticed it yet, but ever so slowly the impenetrable and emotionless mask that he always wore was cracking and working less efficiently. At least, not as efficiently as when he first met him. Naruto could not help but wonder if this only occurred when Sasuke spent time with him. He smiled at the thought, the whisker-tattoos on his cheeks curling upwards, and turned his full attention back to what was currently happening rather than on his thoughts.

"We're gonna dance. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Naruto chirped, taking Sasuke's other arm in his. Sasuke gave him a dry look that clearly said 'you did not say what I just think you said'. Naruto did not mind if he was going to do it reluctantly, because there would be no fun in that. Not to mention that it would be rather un-Uchiha-like.

"No, it doesn't," Sasuke stated simply. He was not exactly sure what his own definition of 'fun' was, but he knew that dancing around like an idiot with the biggest one of them all was not on his list. After he thought about it, the only thing that ever came close to 'fun' was when he was spending time with Naruto.

"Hm, too bad you don't think so. But don't worry, I'll be sure to change that," Naruto said playfully and tightened his grip on Sasuke's pale arms, smiling happily. In return he gave him the deadliest glare he had to offer, but if the dobe was affected, he certainly did not show it. Naruto tossed his shades onto the sand and he stared directly into his friend's obsidian eyes before grinning mischievously. He started to spin Sasuke around, and by the end of this he was sure that he would be ready to kill him. Everything that Sasuke saw was everything blurring into one color, the many shades of blue that Naruto's eyes could turn into. Naruto made him dance with him for a little while, laughing all the way.

People began to stare at the two. Some were confused at what was going on, some were drooling when Naruto showed off for his lovely admirers, others were whispering to each other secretively, and others were horrified, screaming apocalypse at the sight of Sasuke 'dancing'.

The song ended and Naruto stood there, smiling and preparing himself mentally for the harm that would be brought upon him after that. Honestly, he was quite surprised that in the actual 'dancing' (more so, spinning Sasuke around in useless circles, leaving him there for a few seconds, showing off for the chicks, and then spinning him in more useless circles) Sasuke was not really reluctant at all. He scrutinized his face and realized that he had an expression that read somewhere around dizzy, confused, flustered, and angry. Sasuke shook his head vigorously to keep his world from spinning and gave the blond a look that could have slaughtered. Naruto merely laughed nervously.

"Naruto, what the _hell_!" He growled venomously through his teeth. Naruto blinked a few times, took a defensive stance, and started to slowly back away with wide eyes. Sasuke took a few steps forward, quickly bent down to pick up the sun tan lotion, and threw it at the blond idiot's head with all the force he could muster. Naruto ducked and started to run away in the direction of the ocean, his arms up in the air, making a noise that was somewhere in between a scream and a laugh.

He sprinted down the beach, his feet quickly scraping the slippery sand with every step, slowing him down slightly. He ended up tripping, but he immediately stood back up, not noticing the girls around him that were appreciating the nice view of his ass that they were receiving. Naruto started running again and he smirked when he saw how Sasuke was far behind. He reached the ocean and he ran into it until he was about waist deep, feeling the salty sea water soak his board shorts. Finally, Sasuke got in the water, only to see Naruto dive beneath it and disappear from his view. He mumbled under his breath and waded into the water, cautiously looking around.

He felt something touch his leg and he quickly looked down, only to see a stray piece of seaweed. Sasuke made his way through the water for about another minute, a pineapple shaped head nowhere in sight. Knowing Naruto, he probably ended up drowning, but being the experienced surfer that he claimed to be, Sasuke somewhat doubted that. Yet again there was that seaweed brushing against his leg, but he continued to trudge through the water, feeling annoyed. He had barely walked two feet when he felt it again, but this time it was pulling at his leg. Before Sasuke could register what was happening, he was under water, opening his obsidian eyes only to see darkness. He felt hands entangled in his hair, struggled against them, came up to the surface, and gasped for air. That was rather unexpected. Sasuke turned around to face a fox-grinning, dripping wet, Naruto, with half of his face barely visible, covered with his now limp hair. What a surprise.

Naruto was met with a glare, and he pouted in response. "What? Sasuke-kun doesn't like being dunked under water?" He teased, a mocking look on his face.

The said boy only narrowed his eyes at the comment, not to mention the honorific (which made it all the more worse, of course). Slowly, he began to smirk. Naruto blinked when he felt soft hands on his chest, then somehow, he ended up under water. He swallowed water and he emerged from beneath it coughing and choking. He shook his head like a dog to get his drenched hair out of his face and glared at the chuckling Uchiha. His response: he jumped Sasuke with a low growl and he kept his head underneath the water for about a minute, getting repeatedly hit in the head with his flailing pale arms. He winced at the blows and finally allowed him to surface. As soon as Sasuke had taken a breath, he pushed Naruto back down into the ocean.

"No way! You're coming with me!" Naruto shouted and quickly wrapped his arms around the Sasuke's waist, yanking him down with him. Sasuke attempted to punch him under the water, but due to the fact that they were submerged, it did not have much of an effect on him. In unison, they resurfaced and ended up fighting with each other.

"Let go of me, you dobe!"

"Don't hit me, you bastard!"

"Then let go of me!"

"Aggh! Bastard!"

"Dobe."

"BASTARD!"

The lifeguard noticed the commotion in the ocean from his high perch on his lifeguard's chair. He lowered his shades to get a better look at what was occurring. Some tall, tan, muscular blond guy was having some sort of dunk-fest with a slender, smaller, and pale black-haired guy. To him, it looked like they were about at a tie. He sighed, deciding that he should break up the fight, and began to shout at them. They were attracting too much attention, plus they could get hurt, and then he would lose his job. The lifeguard climbed down from his chair and he ran up to them, passing a mother who was covering her child's ears from the colorful language escaping the lips of the two boys. "Stop fighting you two! You're attracting a crowd, disturbing the peace, and corrupting young children's minds, so stop your roughhousing. Please get back onto the beach before I ask you to leave."

Naruto pouted and the two simultaneously glowered at the man for interrupting their dispute. It was their problem, not his, and the minds of children become corrupted as soon as they start going to school anyway. Naruto and Sasuke stomped off, making their way back to the sandy land, under the hawk-like watch of the lifeguard. Grains of sand stuck onto their feet, due to the fact that they were wet; Sasuke ignored the uncomfortable feeling, while the blond idiot wiggled his toes in the sand. In a short amount of time, they returned to their little station on the beach with their rainbow umbrella, towels, and iPod. They sat down on their respective towels, slowly turned to look at each other, and started to laugh. Naruto stopped his laughing for a brief moment to watch his friend across from him. He smiled warmly, then rejoined the laughter.

When it diminished, he turned to face Sasuke, directing his large, cerulean eyes at him. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom, alright, 'suke? Be right back. I know you'll miss me," Naruto said and stood up, wobbling a bit before regaining balance. He smirked at the brunet, pinched his cheek, and walked away while laughing. Sasuke's left eyebrow twitched more times than he could count.

He sighed and ignored the temptation to throw the sun tan lotion bottle at Naruto's head again. Sasuke reapplied the lotion, being extra careful so that his pale skin would not be affected by those damn UV rays. He lay down with his back facing the cloudless sky and felt the sun beat against his skin. He stayed like that for what he thought was a long while to be going to the bathroom. What the hell was Naruto doing? If that blond dobe just abandoned him here, he would seriously kill him.

"I'm back! Did ya miss me?" Naruto's loud voice announced happily. The sound rang through Sasuke's ears and he immediately perked up, sitting up instantly with a pre-prepared glare on his face.

"You left me here," he deadpanned, frowning in the direction from which Naruto was coming. The whiskered-boy appeared from behind the colorful umbrella with a tray in his hands and an armful of food piled on top. He smirked proudly, set it down between the two of them, and then plopped down onto his towel, still smiling at Sasuke. Naruto crossed his legs and he began to eat one of the many foods on the tray, his choice being French fries.

"I take that as yes, you did miss me," he said, still keeping his happy expression on his face while he pushed some of the food towards Sasuke. "Here, eat something. You're too skinny," he pointed out and stuffed some more fries into his mouth.

Sasuke just looked down at the food, dumbfounded. He blinked a few times, looked up to inspect Naruto's face, and glanced back down at the tray. This was odd, to say the least, but it was very nice of Naruto to get some lunch for the two of them. Sasuke had to admit that he had not expected being treated to lunch at all. Was Naruto repaying him for the times he took him out for ramen? Or was he just doing it for no particular reason? It was strange how such a simple action as this could lead Sasuke to confusion. Inwardly sighing, he took a rice ball and began to nibble at it, then looked up at his friend who was still stuffing his face with fries.

"I appreciate the lunch, Naruto. I wasn't expecting it, honestly." Sasuke said, sounding as nonchalant as normal. He continued to eat his food, looking as if he did not notice Naruto choke on his French fries. Once he dislodged them from his throat, he could only stare. A thank-you from Sasuke? If that was not a sign of the apocalypse, he did not know what was. He was the one who had not been expecting that.

"No problem at all, after all, it _is_ what friends are for."

* * *

Naruto walked up the stairs with his Sasuke at his side. He had made sure that they walked like that the entire way back from the beach. A trail of sand followed the two as they made their way down the blue-carpeted hallways, but they could care less. Naruto kicked off his brown flip-flops, bent down to pick them up, and then wiggled his toes, becoming accustomed to the feel of the carpet. Without a second thought, he walked directly to Sasuke's dorm and waited near the door for Sasuke. He arrived in front of it, grunting, with his usual scowl on his face. He would never say it, but he was already starting to feel somewhat sore after all the rough housing and 'swimming' (being attacked and dunked repeatedly). He lifted his head to see Naruto looking down at him with calm blue eyes. He started to feel slightly uncomfortable, though of course, he did not show it on the outside. They stood close to each other and did nothing but stare at the other.

Naruto stood there, looking at Sasuke intently, and he realized that he no longer had anything to say. He racked his mind for something, possibly anything, but it was not working very well. Soon enough, Naruto found himself in an awkward silence with Sasuke standing across from him, looking the tiniest bit uncomfortable. He did not know why, but suddenly, he recalled his first date with Sakura. It had taken him forever to get her to say yes, and they had a great time, but when he got to dropping her off at her mansion, there were no words. Just silence. The pink-haired girl had fumbled around with her keys, getting ready to take them out, but not quite so. They had kissed, because neither of them had wanted the night to end just like that.

It suddenly struck Naruto. His blond eyebrows knitted in confusion and his lips formed into a thin line. No, it was not like that. _Did I….take Sasuke on a… date? Or is it just two friends hanging out? No….I mean, I-I don't know…. _He did not know which one it was. He finally snapped out of thought and he realized that he still had not said anything. He had been staring directly into Sasuke's obsidian eyes while he had been lost in thought. Shit. It was no wonder why Sasuke had a blush on his face and looked so damn uncomfortable. He thought that Sasuke was going to start reaching for the doorknob and go in without saying anything, much less goodbye, or an 'I had fun, Naruto.' The slightest movement in the direction of the door and Naruto was speaking before he realized it.

"Ah, Sasuke, don't go yet," he blurted, grinning bashfully after he said that. Sasuke turned around to face him and a thin black eyebrow rose in question. Now it was time for Naruto to mentally slap himself. _What do I do? I'm not supposed to kiss him, or am I? No…that would be totally weird…We're just friends, and I want it to just stay that way._

"What, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, sounding a little irritated and impatient. His rose-tinted cheeks had long disappeared, now replaced by a deadpan look. The blond realized that he had spaced out yet again, and he gave his head a brief shake. He stood up straight like he always did and put on his usual foxy grin.

"What, you're just going to leave without saying anything? I mean, I knew you were a bastard and all but…" He trailed off, beginning to tease Sasuke. This, at the very least, tricked him into thinking that things were normal, when somewhere within himself he knew that it really was not.

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke said in a monotonic voice. He turned his whole body towards Naruto, titled his head slightly upward, and of course, glared (what would an Uchiha be without a glare?). "Besides, I didn't see you saying anything," he said pointedly and smirked. Naruto pouted, looking annoyed.

"Hey, you didn't say anything either! At least I started something. That not saying anything wasn't really my fault either…I mean, I spaced out," Naruto said insistently, still wearing the same expression on his face. He crossed his arms across his chest rather childishly. He was actually telling the truth and not necessarily making up random excuses. Sasuke snorted and Naruto whipped his head in the direction from which the noise came. He narrowed his eyes and a low growl emitted from him. "What was that all about?" Naruto asked, referring to the snort that was directed towards him.

"You actually spaced out, which meant you were in deep thought. Never thought I'd see the day." Sasuke smirked yet again, which only made Naruto grow more irritated. He opened his mouth and realized that, yet again, he had nothing to say. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open and one finger pointed at Sasuke. He was still wearing that superior smirk he always had on his face and his eyes were directed at the blonde's jaw. Naruto realized that his mouth was still open and he clamped it shut with a snap of his teeth. Naruto pointed at him again and jabbed his finger into Sasuke's chest.

"Well…you...you're…" He said, tripping over his words, without a comeback. He re-jabbed his finger into Sasuke's chest and lowered his head, so that their eyes were on equal levels. "You're an arrogant bastard!" He announced for the entire dormitory building to hear. This brilliant comeback gave Sasuke permission to chuckle at his friend's stupidity. Their little 'arguments' never failed to amuse him, but if they went on long enough to the point that Naruto started to be an unreasonable child and began to chuck things at his head with all his strength, then he would become angry.

"Of course, now leave me alone, dobe. I have work to do for school," he said. He made a small gesture with his hand, telling Naruto to shoo, and then he turned towards his door. He took out the keys, stuck them into the keyhole, and opened his door.

"Pfft. Fine, be a teacher's pet," Naruto said and stuck out his tongue at Sasuke's back. He heard the creak of the door as it opened and the shuffling of footsteps as his friend stepped inside. He turned his head towards the door and saw it slowly starting to close, Sasuke disappearing into the room. With speed, Naruto darted towards the door and put his hand in the crevice between the door and the wall. How many times had this happened before?

"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto asked in a quiet voice. The reason as to why he was speaking so low was unbeknown to him. A black eye appeared in the small opening, staring back at the large blue one.

"Hn?" Sasuke made a small questioning noise. Naruto stared at his eye and realized that it was not black as so many people thought, but a deep shade of gray that could only be determined from black in bright light.

"We should do this again sometime. You know, go hang out at the beach and stuff," Naruto said and smiled softly. Something in the back of his mind was tugging at him, screaming at him, telling him that if that was not another invitation for a 'date', it did not know what was. So what if it sounded like that? They both knew that it was not like that. Slowly, the same smile appeared on Sasuke's face, and he could not have been more thankful that the door was blocking it. He nodded his head slightly and actually decided to respond.

"Yeah, surprisingly…I had fun," he heard himself say, his voice not sounding like his own. Naruto was shocked by his words and they rendered him inarticulate for a few moments. Immediately, he grinned without a second thought. It only widened when he noticed something through the small crevice that separated them. He reached down into his beach bag and pulled out the sun tan lotion, handing it to Sasuke through the door.

"Looks like you got a little sun burnt, huh?" He said, laughing, his whisker-marks curving upwards with his happy smile. He pointed at Sasuke's face and he walked back to his dorm, still laughing. He had noted the confusion on Sasuke's face before he had walked away. Naruto assumed that Sasuke did not realize that he was blushing; the only part of Sasuke's face that he could see had been entirely red.

Sasuke blinked, utterly puzzled, and stared down at the bottle. He did not understand, he had applied some very strong lotion to keep his pale skin from burning, and the dobe had been there to witness it. He walked into his bathroom, turned on the shower so he could get the sand out of his hair, and glanced at himself in the mirror, seeing residing pink on his cheeks. When he realized that, it returned_. _

_Only you, Naruto. Only you._

* * *

The radio blasted so loudly that Naruto could not hear his own thoughts, but certainly the few people that lived in the entire dormitory building could hear it. He turned off the shower, droplets of water sliding down his tanned body. He pushed the curtain to the side, stepped out of the shower, and grabbed some towels, leaving a trial of water behind him. He slung one around his slim waist and dried his hair with the other. He stared at his reflection, his limp blonde hair framing his face and hanging almost completely over his eyes. The taste of salt and sand was still potent in his mouth. He traced his whisker tattoos, inspected his face in the mirror, then grinned and sauntered out of the bathroom. Tossing the towel that he used for his hair aside, he strolled up to the large closet in the room and slid it open.

Before he had a chance to decide what to wear for the rest of the day, (And night. He was planning to hit some parties, including friends or excluding them) his orange cell phone started to ring. Quickly, he glanced at it, becoming momentarily excited, thinking that it might be Sasuke, but he realized that it was not when he heard the song that was playing. He could barely hear it over the music of the radio. Naruto turned it off hastily and a ring tone that he never thought he would hear again entered his ears. The song 'Money Maker' by Ludacris filled the room and he immediately froze, his eyes widening. The song continued to play and he finally moved towards the phone. She was being rather persistent.

As soon as his fingers touched the cool surface of the phone, it halted its incessant ringing. Hesitantly, Naruto picked it up and checked if he had any missed calls. Ten, and all from the same person. He wondered what she could want from him. It started to ring again in his hands and he involuntarily jumped, almost dropping the phone in the process. With his quick reflexes, he caught it and snapped it open in one fluid motion, bringing it up to his ear. That was eleven calls, now.

"What's up, Sakura?" Naruto asked casually, after clearing his throat. He did not realize that his hand that was holding the cell phone was shaking. He waited for a moment, dreading her response, unaware that he was holding his breath.

"Cut the crap, Naruto," the voice that he had not heard in so long growled. In his mind, he pictured their first talk following their split going much differently. Whenever he tried to approach her, she would just run away. That did not give him the impression that she was agreeable. He had been very agreeable, more than he should after the way she had been treating him, but he was somewhat desperate for Sakura to stop behaving like that so they could at least stand being around each other again, for the sake of their friends.

"Where have you been? Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting? I can't believe that you flat-out ditched us, all of us, Naruto!" Sakura screeched angrily from the other side of the line. She sounded infuriated and he had no idea what she was talking about, or why she was freaking calling him in the first place.

"What? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" He shouted back at her, if that was the way she was going to play the rest of the conversation. If he did not want to know why she was calling, he would have already pressed end and hung up on her.

She made a noise that sounded like she was gritting her teeth. "Don't try to play dumb!" Sakura shouted back, fuming and livid as ever. "You ditched us!" Her screeching was seriously starting to affect Naruto's hearing.

"Okay, be an ice bitch and don't tell me what the hell you're talking about!" He screamed into the phone, seething. He always had a short temper, but he seemed to be losing it even faster than normal while he was talking to her. Naruto was confused, angry, and still did not know the exact reason why the fuck she was calling.

"_What did you call me_?" Sakura shrieked and gripped the phone as tight as she could, her knuckles turning white. She just wanted to break the damn thing, and she would, if the fact that it was extremely expensive did not exist. When she talked to him, she had no idea why she would just lose it. It may be hard to believe, but originally the pink-haired girl intended for this to be a somewhat civilized conversation that consisted of less screaming and more talking.

"I think you know what I said. I called you an ice bitch!" Naruto shouted; the idea of hanging up on her was becoming more and more appealing. After that comment, the screaming subsided and there was a brief moment of silence. Naruto bit his lip and waited for a response. Did she hang up on him? She could not have, he was supposed to be the one do that. He clenched his orange cell phone and started to pace around the room, wondering why Sakura had suddenly fallen silent. He heard his ex-girlfriend sigh.

"Naruto, I-I'm trying to be civilized about this. Really I am….but you're making it so difficult…So please, just shut up and let me say something! J-Just come over to Neji's place…we all need to talk to you, and it's urgent, so don't even think about ignoring what I'm saying." He heard a click which meant she had snapped her phone shut.

Naruto stood in the middle of his room, still holding the phone to his ear. He snapped it shut, tossing it onto his bed, not caring where it landed. Did she hang up on him? They did not necessarily say bye, (he did not think they were even close to those terms yet) but at least they ended the conversation without screaming their lungs out. Slowly, he took a deep breath. He thought he did pretty well, for his first conversation (and he uses that term very loosely) with Sakura since they broke up. It did not exactly go as he had imagined it, but it still worked.

He walked over to the desk in his room and found the keys to his Lamborghini buried under a stack of papers of schoolwork. Naruto snatched them and spun them around his pointer finger, watching the fox key chain on them fly around. Naruto noticed that he had forgotten to take off the half of a heart that said 'Sakura' on it from his keys. Sakura had the other half which said his name on it. He unhooked it from his key chain and tossed it somewhere behind his desk to be forgotten.

_Guess I'm heading to Neji's place_. Naruto exited his room and did not close the door because there was no one around that would ever bother to take anything. Maybe the occasional fan girl would stroll along, take something, and hold it for ransom; he would only get it back if he agreed to date her. He was letting his imagination run a little wild, but if that did somehow happen, he was too lazy to turn around and close the door anyway. He took the shorter way, which did not require walking past Sasuke's room. He reached the bottom of the stairs and exited the building, dragging himself towards his vibrant car. He unlocked his car, got in, and turned it on. The engine roared and he closed the doors.

Sasuke heard the loud rumble which had become familiar to his ears. He always heard it late at night and very early in the morning, and plus, his car sounded similar to that of Naruto. He walked towards his window that faced the front of the building and saw the orange car pulling out of the parking lot. With a loud screech of his tires, Naruto sped off campus grounds. Sasuke chuckled when he nearly crashed into a decrepit car and hastily drove off before the guy could get his license plate number. He continued to look out the window until the sound of the car disappeared. Naruto seemed to be in such a rush. It was only about an hour ago that they had returned from the beach and now he was off again. Sasuke had heard the loud music (much to his annoyance) all the way from his dorm while he had been taking a shower, then he had heard Naruto screaming something along the lines of 'ice bitch' before he had run off. He had to admit that it was somewhat strange.

Naruto drove towards the center of the city, where the Hyuuga mansion was located. Even though no one had told him to hurry, he drove like he was in a rush. He almost crashed several times and he hoped that they did not get his plates. A ticket was the last thing that he needed.

He reached the center of Konoha City, saw the mansion in the distance, and drove towards it without slowing down at all. The guards knew him very well and they could spot his car a mile away since it was so conspicuous. Naruto managed a grin when he passed by the guards and he waved at them, then proceeded up the long driveway. He stopped directly in front of the mansion and stepped out of his car, looking up to see his friends waiting for him at the door. It did not help that all of them were glaring, frowning, looking sad, or some combination of all three. Naruto took a deep breath and approached them boldly.

"Hey….guys…" He said awkwardly, waving at them. Ino averted her eyes and looked away from him, seeming slightly hurt. Gaara crossed his arms tighter and clenched his jaw. Sakura's face was the color of her hair, but Naruto could tell that she was trying to stay calm. And Neji…he just sighed and waved back, which confused Naruto a great deal. "What's wrong? I mean… Sakura called me and just told me to come here…and you guys don't seem too happy…" Naruto said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other. He stared at their faces, waiting for some indication that they were going to respond.

"We aren't happy," Gaara said frankly. He crossed his arms tighter, if that was even possible, and his whole body became tense. He stared directly at Naruto and nothing else with his ominous green eyes. The rest of his friends silently agreed; Sakura and Neji nodded their heads and Ino remained immobile. Naruto blinked, utterly confused. His eyebrows knit and he gave them a questioning look, racking his brain for what they could possibly be talking about. He could not remember anything he could have done to make them angry.

"Listen, guys, I don't know what you're talking about, but I can't remember anything that could have made all of you angry," he started, trying to defend himself. Naruto desperately searched their faces for any clue concerning what was happening.

Neji sighed and looked away, allowing his pink-haired friend to scream what they all wanted to say. Sakura stepped forward and clenched her fists, trembling with anger. "That's the problem, Naruto! Can't you see it? You can't remember. You're forgetting. You're forgetting about all of us!" She shouted, taking a few daring steps towards the blond. She was still trembling. Naruto opened his mouth in an attempt to say something; he wanted to say that he was not forgetting them at all, that he could never do that to his closest friends. But no sound came out when he tried to speak.

"I'm not forgetting," he whispered almost inaudibly. It made everyone fall silent just so they could hear him. His words echoed through their ears and there was a pause. It seemed like time stopped and everyone was holding their breath.

"No..." Sakura started quietly, looking down at the stone steps of the Hyuuga mansion. Suddenly, her emerald eyes darted up and she glared at Naruto fiercely, making eye contact with him for the first time in ages. "You are forgetting!" The pink-haired girl screeched. Naruto took a step back and maintained eye contact with her, despite the rage that burned in her eyes. "Look at your friends, Naruto. Do you think we would be like this if you weren't? Do you?" She took another step towards him. He did not move and averted his eyes to the ground, unwilling to look at any of his friends.

Neji watched and sighed as Sakura advanced towards Naruto in a fury. This was not the way he had envisioned their confrontation. She had promised to control of herself. He decided to take action, calmly approached to his two friends, and stepped in between them, facing Sakura. He did not think that Naruto registered his presence, since his eyes were solely focused on the ground. He felt a brief wave of pity towards Naruto, seeing how he really did not know from where these accusations were coming. Neji was skilled at reading a person through their body language, thus he could ascertain if he was lying or feigning innocence.

Gently, he placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and her green eyes darted up to him. "Calm down, Sakura."

"Don't get involved in my affairs, Neji," she spat, moving her shoulder roughly so that his hand fell off of it and returned limply to his side.

"This involves all five of us. Don't forget that Ino, Gaara, and I are here," he said in a monotone voice. He could have forgotten that Ino and Gaara were there, since they remained silent. It was not unheard of for the red-head to be introverted, but Ino was usually so lively and animated.

Sakura glanced back at her friends for a quick moment. Gaara was stiff as a board and she met his gaze. He stared back at her unblinkingly, then moved from his spot and walked towards Ino, who was holding herself loosely. She did not notice when Gaara touched her shoulder gently and asked if she was alright. It took her a second to realize it and then she nodded, looking distant. It was a rare thing for Gaara to do, but he put his arm around Ino's waist to comfort her.

Sakura turned to face Neji and looked over his shoulder, directing her gaze at Naruto, who still seemed confused and had his eyes glued to the ground. "I'm not the one who's been forgetting," she growled, but it lacked venom. Neji followed her gaze and sighed. He felt a hand on his arm and he was pushed to the side, away from his spot separating his feuding friends. Naruto walked into the place in which Neji had previously stood.

"Thanks, Nej, but I don't need you to defend me. I just want to know what's going on, why all of you are so mad. You haven't exactly made it clear for me. I know that somehow…somehow I'm causing you all pain," Naruto said, looking at his friends for answers. It was quiet for a few excruciatingly long seconds. The silence was broken with a dry laugh.

Neji and Naruto turned to face Sakura.

"You think you're that important to us, Naruto? You think that you are so important that you cause us pain? Wow, just, wow. Imagine how infatuated with yourself you must be to think that, and more so openly say that," Sakura said sardonically. She laughed again, but it started to sound increasingly like a dry sob. She knew that she was lying, but she did not care. All of their worlds were falling apart. Naruto stiffened for a brief moment

"I don't know. I guess I am important to you guys. If I wasn't, would I be receiving this type of reaction because I did something wrong? I don't think so," he said harshly, his breathing sounding forced.

Neji decided that now was the time to interject and explain, before things became worse. "Naruto." The said boy whipped his head around, his golden hair flailing wildly with the sudden movement, then settling against his face, nearly covering his eyes. Naruto responded to his name with a hard stare.

"Earlier today we were supposed to go to the mountains to spend the weekend there together. We've had this trip planned for two weeks. When you hadn't arrived by the time we were ready, we waited for you, of course. We had even called you several times, but it seemed like you didn't have your phone with you. At first, we were worried that something had happened, but as soon as you picked up the phone it was already too late. We no longer wanted to go because really, no matter how much you deny it, you ditched us. It's impossible to just forget like that, Naruto. What happened?" Neji asked, his voice remaining level throughout the entire time in which he spoke. He did not seem angry; his attitude had remained the same since Naruto had arrived.

Naruto kept his cerulean eyes lowered as he thought. Suddenly, he remembered everything. They all had been looking forward to the trip for the past two weeks. Naruto could have slapped himself in the face an innumerable amount of times and it would not have been enough. He buried his face in his hands and gripped his head, strands of golden hair peeking through his fingers. He started mumbling to himself incoherently, using a variety of very colorful words. He kept his eyes shut tight and started to massage his forehead.

"Oh, god, god, god. What the fuck did I do? What the fuck did I do! How the hell could I forget…?" He muttered a few more things to himself as his friends quietly watched him. He removed his hands from his face and he lifted his head, looking at all of them with a truly pained look. "Everyone, I'm so sorry…"

Sakura swallowed hard. "Well, you should be."

Nobody said anything for a few minutes after that.

Gaara watched many different emotions cross his friends' faces. He wanted to get in there; he wanted to be a part of this argument. He was also affected, no matter how much he may not show it. The redhead could not move, though, since he had been given the job of providing Ino solace. It was obvious that it was affecting her significantly. He knew how much her friends meant to her, how they meant more to her than her family, and how seeing their friendships being slowly ripped apart afflicted her. Gaara kept one arm around her waist, assuring her that it would be all right, but without using words. Suddenly, he felt Ino grow less tense. He turned and looked at her with moderately surprised pale, green eyes.

"So," Ino started, grabbing all her friends' attention. She directed her gaze at Naruto. "I want to know what made you forget. There has to be a reason," she pointed out. Naruto just stared at her with his mouth slightly open, looking as if he was deciding whether to say anything or not. Gaara looked from one face to the other, taking note of their facial expressions. Ino seemed relatively calm, compared to before. He turned his attention to Naruto and gazed at him steadily.

"She's right." He nodded slightly in agreement. "If you were just sitting in your dorm doing nothing, there would've been a pretty high chance that you would remember. If it was the opposite, though, and you were occupied with something that could somehow make you completely fail to remember…" He trailed off, leaving his sentence hanging in the air, so that they all could absorb what he just said. Naruto did not need to think twice about the answer. He felt four pairs of eyes turn and look at him expectantly.

"Just tell us," Sakura said softly, feeling like she was unable to raise her voice. The air of the situation made it feel necessary to keep her voice low.

"I was at the beach…" Naruto started, lifting his head and looking at each of his friends' faces for a few seconds at a time. "Hanging out with Sasuke…" He mentally braced himself for his ex-girlfriends certain outburst at his announcement. He closed one blue eye and his shoulders tensed, but nothing happened. Everything was so silent that it was unbearable. The only sound were the birds fluttering about and singing songs in the distance, completely unaware of what was happening in the world around them and oblivious to the fact that this was certainly not an occasion for joyous singing. That was the only noise everyone heard for a few minutes.

"Oh," Sakura said, letting out a breath. Her face was entirely pink but she acted normally, as if it was not flushed. The girl turned around to face her best friend, the corners of her lips twitching, like she was attempting to smile. "Ino, don't you think it's time we go?" She asked, widening her green eyes slightly. Ino simply nodded and waved goodbye to Gaara, then made her way down the immense stone steps, towards the pink Corvette parked in the driveway. When she passed by Naruto, her periwinkle eyes darted upwards and she made eye contact with him for a brief second before exiting his area of vision.

Gaara sighed and did the same, walking straight past his two friends without saying a word. He swung open the door of his red car and disappeared behind the tinted windows. The sound of fast cars speeding away filled both of their ears.

Naruto never took his eyes off of the ground. His usually bright blue eyes looked dull and hazy; the life seemed to be sucked out of them. His arms felt incredibly heavy and they became too much of a burden to have hanging limply at his sides. He lifted his hand and looked at it for a few seconds before slowly forming it into a loose fist.

_I feel so horrible. How in the world could I do this? I don't think I'll ever get my friends to forgive me for abandoning them like that. I feel like such a worthless piece of fucking trash. While they were waiting for me I completely blew them off. I was having fun with Sasuke. I realize that during that time, they hadn't crossed my mind once. In a way, I chose Sasuke over them. What am I supposed to do? I've never felt this absolutely horrible in my life…I'm so ashamed. You know what? It's okay if they don't forgive me, because it was my fault. I don't deserve their forgiveness; I don't deserve to have friends like them._

Neji looked at Naruto with concern evident in his eyes. Naruto was so lost in thought that he did not realize that Neji was still there and that he was not alone. His lips formed into a thin, tight line. He knew that Naruto did not intend to abandon them. They had to halt their ignorance and become more understanding. If he could just open their eyes, he was sure that they would forgive him. Perhaps not Sakura, though, since she still seemed to hold a grudge against him because of their break up. As long as the group of friends grew as close as they could to the former, pleasant state of their friendship, Neji would be content. At least, Neji was sure he could forgive Naruto. He already had.

* * *

She could no longer handle this. The world around her seemed to be falling apart. Ever since freshman year of high school they had been the best of friends; nothing had ever separated them. They did everything together, went everywhere together, and they were family. They had not fought once. One big, happy, let's go party and get drunk, family. Ino grumbled and pulled out her sunglasses, putting them on as she drove back to her house from dropping off Sakura at her mansion. Her long, blonde ponytail flailed wildly behind her in the wind as she pushed the car harder. She was always the flirty, cheery, blonde who dressed like a whore. There was nothing more to her than that.

Ino frowned and turned the pink Corvette sharply, beginning to climb one of the many mountains that surrounded the large Californian city. She did not know how she was supposed to react at a time like this, when the friendship that they shared was crumbling apart in front of her eyes. Everything was much simpler when Naruto and Sakura were still dating, when Naruto was not buddy-buddy with the emo kid, and when they could all spend time together without a problem.

Ino pushed up her sun glasses and sped towards the gate to her mansion; she was not going to wait and stop. She assumed that the guards who operated the large gate figured this out and it was fully opened by the time she had sped through it. The only thing that she could do was hope that the situation would ameliorate. She would continue to act like her typical self in hope of causing everyone to be themselves again.

Ino slammed on the brakes and the car came to a sudden stop. The blonde shut off the stereo system in the car and hip-hop music immediately stopped playing. In one quick motion, she opened the door, swung her legs out of the car, and threw her sunglasses down into the passenger seat. She walked off the circular driveway and started marching up the steps, listening to the rhythmic clack of her heels against the stone, deep in thought. She did not even need to glance ahead with her pretty periwinkle eyes since one of the many butlers that her father had hired opened the outsized and decorative doors that led into the foyer. Ino did not halt her march and strolled in without a single grateful word. She was too absorbed in what was currently running through her mind.

Ino sighed and slowly closed her eyes. Then, she tossed her expensive bag onto one of the couches in the living room, turned on the large plasma screen television, and ignored all the maids that asked her if she wanted anything. All she wanted was for everything to return to normal, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not give her that.

Ino sensed someone standing behind her and she curiously turned around, meeting the eyes of her father. She blinked her blue eyes a few times, shocked, since it was rare for her father to be home, much less approach her. Ino had no idea what he could want. She considered that he might be angry with her for spending too much money on her credit card, but she remembered that it was never that. Her blonde eyebrows knit in confusion.

"Hello, father," Ino addressed him, trying to sound as happy as she could in her current state. Inoichi stood before his daughter, looking sharp in one of his many expensive suits and his newly-cut short hair. Ino recalled an event a few weeks ago in which he had spoken to his hair stylist about cutting nearly all of his hair off, insisting that it would make him look more professional. Personally, Ino thought he looked weird. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what do you want?" She asked blatantly. "You never walk up to me without a reason."

The side of Inoichi's mouth twitched slightly, as if he was considering smiling. Getting straight to the point, he removed a folded piece of paper from the pocket of his jacket and tossed it at his daughter. She sprang up, caught it with both hands, and sunk back down into the couch, looking at it with a confused expression on her face. Her father detected this and began to speak.

"I received it from Jiraiya earlier today. I can't attend because I have a business trip to New York, but he insisted that I give it to you. Don't expect anyone else to know about this event, since he said he was personally inviting the more important figures of the city before anyone else. I have to go catch my flight now. See you in a few weeks," Ino heard her father's slightly accented voice say (he had moved to the states from Japan at a young age). She heard his footsteps disappear out the door, with butlers most likely trailing after him, carrying his luggage. She stared hard at the piece of paper in her hands, wondering if she should unfold it or not, forgetting to say goodbye to her father.

_To hell with it_. Ino quickly unfolded the small piece of paper and stared at it for a few seconds, her eyes scanning over the words on the paper. She tried to decipher Jiraiya's messy handwriting into English words (since it looked like a language he decided to invent), and once she did, all she could do was gawk at the paper. Ino clutched it, shrieked with excitement, and jumped off the couch.

"Yes! Finally, something fun is going to happen!" She exclaimed. Ino grinned mischievously when she glanced at the paper again. Good 'ol Jiraiya, she had to give him credit for this. Knowing the old pervert, he probably did it without Tsunade's permission.

* * *

(A/N): Hehe. Fighting is just an excuse to touch. (Referring to the cuteness of scene two .) Also, Poo-tee-weet? (referring to scene 4, if anyone understands what I mean).

(_Authoress__looks about surreptitiously before crawling into a pre-made hole. IHaveFriendIssues!Naruto comes strolling around the corner, and dully looks down into the hole, realizes who it is, and flips her off)_

Naruto: I hate you. Why do you give me problems?

Authoress_(crawling into the darkest corner of her safe haven): _I couldn't just make everyone be happy, now could I? That makes a story highly unrealistic. Life is fucked up.

Naruto_(stares vacantly):_ Why are you in the hole anyway?

Authoress_(hears a distant cry and attempts to burrow further into the hole, and is unsuccessful, therefore she curls into a ball and dies): _I'm hiding from the reviewers, isn't that obvious? May I remind you it takes me a while to gather the courage to check my reviews?

Naruto: Well, you did chop all of Inoichi's hair off, make gay pride umbrellas, took forever to get this chapter up, delay the surfing scene to chapter fourteen, write a talky excuse for a chapter, make Sasuke dance, which is _incredibly wrong_, AND I think you might have even left a cliffhanger to top it all off. Plus, you made me stupid and forget about my friends. Now fix it or I'll tell the reviewers where you are hiding. _[Tosses down laptop and it is sent crashing on top of the poor frightened creature in the hole, thus killing her]_

Authoress_(astoundingly comes back to life and begins to type away)_: That's a very good point you have there. I'll get right on it…but a little encouragement from the readers & reviewers would do me well. Translation: click the button!


	10. Shall We Dance?

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own anyone in Naruto. I don't own Naruto. I don't own Sasuke. FLASH!

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, maniac shopping sprees, Evil Little Plots, and old hags growing older. The horror.

_Review and I will love you forever!_

* * *

**CHAPTER TEN: SHALL WE DANCE?**

Ino pressed on the gas pedal slightly, making the Corvette speed up only a small amount. She anxiously gripped the steering wheel and glanced down to her right with her dazzling periwinkle eyes, briefly staring at the piece of paper that was there. She had stuck a paperweight on top of it to make sure that it would not fly away with the wind, since the top was off the convertible car. Slowly, she pushed the car somewhat faster, driving as quickly as she could without going over the speed limit by too much. Ino could not wait until she arrived at her best friend's home and could tell her about the news. She loved having connections through her father; she was probably one of the first to know. This meant that she, Ino Yamanaka, would get to spread the word to every soul in Konoha College.

She smiled and turned up 'We Fly High' on the radio. In comparison to how her mood had been the other day, it had improved by leagues. The group of friends had not seen each other since that day; they had silently agreed to give each other space so they could figure out how they would react to what was happening in their own minds. Her smile faltered when she remembered the look on Naruto's face and Sakura's angry words. Slowly, she took a deep breath, then sighed. Really, Ino would have preferred if that had never happened, if she could forget it, or at least if she could pretend that it did not happen. She could not do any of those, though, so it had forced her to come to a decision. Ino had forgiven Naruto. She could not bear to throw all of it away, all their years of friendship and all the memories they shared, just over one little thing.

_Okay_, she thought, her eyebrows knitting. _So it really wasn't all that little_. Ino admitted that to herself. He really had forgotten, though; no one could ever fake that, no matter how good of an actor he or she was. No one could ever fake that ashamed and pained look he had in his sorrow-filled cerulean eyes. Ino still had no idea how he could possibly forget the people who were the family that he never had. But it was only one time…right?

Quickly, she turned the steering wheel and exited the freeway that went through Konoha City. She had to stop thinking about it, since it was darkening her formerly bright mood. Ino raised the volume of the radio so she could not hear her own thoughts and forced herself to become her usual cheerful and enthusiastic self. Again, she glanced down at the paper beside her. Well, at least she still had that to anticipate. She drove on and the environment around her started to change, the houses growing larger and far more luxurious as she sped down the narrowing road. At the very end, there was a hill, and on top of it sat the exquisite and expensive Haruno mansion. Though it seemed to be a copy of all the large homes surrounding it by mimicking their exact look and style, it was most certainly more refined than the rest, surrounded by lush gardens and cherry blossom trees. She pulled into the driveway and parked the pink car, waiting for her friend to appear.

Ino watched the enormous doors, waiting for Sakura to emerge from them. The vast, decorated doors opened, revealing the pink-haired girl in the midst of strutting out of her large home. She tried to walk as fast as she could in her heels. She smiled blissfully at her friend and waved, clutching her tiny purse. Ino waved back and leaned over to open the passenger door for her. As soon as Sakura sat down and shut the car door, Ino's foot was on the pedal. They raced off the Haruno property at prohibited speeds with their hair blowing in the wind, breaking into a fit of giggles when Ino's ponytail accidentally whipped Sakura in the face.

Ino smiled to herself and turned the music up. She would wait a little longer before she told her pink-haired friend the big news. For now, she focused on the road ahead of her and let her mind wander. It was funny, in a way, how Sakura was almost an entirely different person when Naruto was not around. Ino ran a hand through her long, silky ponytail and frowned. How long had it been since they broke up? It was more than enough time to recover and heal, but she was not about to say that to Sakura's face. Ino found how Sakura held a grudge against Naruto for neglecting her immature, but she was not about to delve into it any further. From the corner of her eye, she peered at her friend, who seemed relatively content at the moment, despite what happened a few days ago. It was like it had never even happened.

In a way, Ino felt envious of how Sakura could forget so easily.

Ino fell back down to earth, realized that she was nearing a stoplight, and halted the car. She decided that now was the time to tell her friend about the large, approaching event. Ino turned off the radio and Sakura glared at her, questioning Ino with her gaze. Ino just flashed a toothy smile in response and snatched the paper from beneath the paperweight, bent over, her seat belt straining against her, and waved the note under Sakura's nose. Her expression immediately changed and she stared at it curiously. She tried to snatch it from her friend and failed miserably, being forced to ask to see it.

Ino stuck out her tongue at the pink-haired girl and giggled.

"What is that?" She asked, leaning over slightly, looking like she was going to try to pry it from her friend's hands again. Ino studied Sakura's face and noted her obvious interest in the folded piece of paper, and the fact that she was starting to become somewhat angry that she was not letting her have it. Sakura always did have a short temper. Ino extended her long arm and hung it in front of her face again, teasing her.

"Oh, this?" She said nonchalantly, putting it out of Sakura's reach when she yet again tried to grab it.

"Yes, that! Now give me it, Ino, you pig," Sakura demanded, becoming frustrated. She tried reaching for it again and she missed, glowering at her dangerously. Cars behind them started to honk their horns at them repeatedly. Sakura looked up to see that the light had changed from red to the color of her eyes, but she and Ino ignored it. They could not have cared less that they were holding up traffic.

"Aw, you don't have to turn to insults, forehead! You could have just said please!" Ino rolled her eyes, joking, and stretched backwards, still keeping the paper out of reach.

"Oh, look who's talking!" Sakura firmly placed her hands on her hips and gave her friend the most intimidating glare she could muster. Ino sighed and dropped the paper, letting it sway into the pink-haired girl's awaiting hands.

A car honked loudly and it reminded them of the traffic jam that they were causing. A few cars were driving around them, the drivers shouting angry curses at them. They just laughed and Ino pressed on the gas pedal, hoping to get away from the area before she got a ticket. She continued on her way to the college campus, leaving the radio off, so Sakura could read the note peacefully, without hip-hop blasting in her ears. Her emerald eyes scanned the paper quickly, seeming to be so absorbed in doing so that she did not care that the wind was tousling her hair severely. She appeared to be done when she raised her head and practically shrieked in excitement.

"Oh my god, Ino! Who knew Tsunade was the type of person to throw some big birthday bash for herself? Either way, I can't wait," she exclaimed, laying back into her seat.

"Sakura, isn't it obvious that this is the work of Jiraiya? I mean, like Tsunade would seriously throw a birthday party for herself, inviting everyone in the city. That woman hates the fact that she ages, so there would be no reason for her to celebrate it," Ino explained to the girl beside her, glancing at her briefly, then focusing her eyes back onto the road. "That old perv. He probably just wants to see Konoha City's finest girls in sexy, revealing dresses," she added, starting to laugh at her own comment. Sakura nodded her head quickly, no doubt agreeing that would be something expected from the old man, and then started to laugh herself.

"So, Ino, is he going to get that wish?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and smirking.

"Hm, probably. Only if you do it with me," Ino said, then quickly changed her mind. "Never mind, I'll probably end up doing that anyway," she said in a cheery tone and braced herself for the whack that she knew was coming. Sakura smacked her friend playfully on the arm and tried to look reproachful, but she cracked, a smile making its way onto her face.

"Whore," she stated accusingly, still smiling.

"I know," Ino said happily and received a fake look of astonishment from Sakura. Dramatically, she slapped a hand against her chest and stared at her, bewildered, with her mouth hanging open. Ino covered her mouth and tried her hardest to suppress her giggles, waiting for the rest of Sakura's act to come before she burst out laughing.

"Ino, I am so surprised in you. What sort of girl..." She trailed off, shaking her head vigorously, like she was a mother ashamed of her child. Sakura placed her hands on her hips firmly and wagged her finger at her friend. "Have you no decency?" She mock-scolded.

Ino's small smile instantly turned into a sly grin and she wiggled her eyebrows. Sakura dropped her act as a disapproving mother-figure and stared at her friend warily. She knew that look from her friend. Usually, it meant that she was about to do something completely insane, perverted, and one-hundred percent Ino. The pink-haired girl eyed her friend cautiously, but was still caught off guard when Ino let go of the steering wheel. Immediately, Sakura tensed and screeched in horror, even though the Corvette remained in the center of the lane.

"FLASH!" Ino exclaimed vivaciously as she lifted the hem of her purple belly shirt, and then quickly pulled it back down. She grabbed the steering wheel and laid back into the seat of the car negligently, her thin arm hanging out of the car and her eyes staring ahead as if nothing had happened. "Nope. I got no decency," she said with a devious little smirk on her lips. Sakura, though, looked like she was recovering from a heart attack.

"Ino, you insane bitch! You know that we both know that you have no decency, and there was no need for you to prove that, much less let go of the wheel, flash me, and expose whatever of you there is left to expose," Sakura yelled before calming down slightly. She leant back into the leather seats with a hand over her heart, waiting for it to slow down. The cheery blonde girl beside her just stuck out her tongue childishly and her eyes turned into happy half-circles.

"You know you like it," she said, winking at her friend and flashing her a toothy grin. Sakura just sighed, and then giggled lightly, a content expression setting onto her face as she became comfortable in her seat. They drove on for a few more minutes, not speaking to each other and enjoying the comfortable silence. Eventually, Ino turned the radio back on and 'Fergalicious' blasted out of the speakers.

"Hey, Ino?" Sakura asked abruptly, her voice barely heard over the loud music. It took the said girl a few seconds to register that she had actually heard Sakura's voice. She turned to face her best friend and former rival with a curious and questioning expression on her face. Ino blinked a few times before making a small noise of acknowledgement.

"Hm?" She queried, swaying to the music.

"Who are you taking to the party?" Sakura shuffled around slightly and turned to face her. "Even through Jiraiya's horrible hand writing, I think it said that having a date is preferable," Sakura recalled. Ino bit her lip and clutched the steering wheel somewhat tighter.

"Even though I can have any guy I want, I think I'll settle for going with one of our boys," Ino grinned, her statement sounding innocent even though her words were smug.

Sakura did not miss a beat. "I call Gaara!" She exclaimed, her left arm shooting straight up into the air. She saw the expression of contempt on Ino's face and started began to laugh at her friend's expense. Suddenly, Sakura was very glad that she beat her friend to him. Even after all the years that had passed since they halted their rivalry and reverted back to being friends, there was never a time without competitiveness between them.

"B-but...I wanted to take him!" Ino whined, pouting. "It's fun to bother him," she insisted, wisps of white-blond hair blowing wildly in the wind around her face.

"And I'm so sure that will make him want to go with you. Just face it, Yamanaka, I beat you, as always, so now you're stuck with Neji," Sakura said with an egotistical smirk on her face. She stuck out her butt and wagged it at her friend, mocking her. "Kiss it."

"Only if you let me," Ino said, suggestively raising her eyebrows and wiggling them as she always did. That immediately scared Sakura and she backed up into the corner of the seat, hiding her butt from Ino. They laughed, faced forward, and stared at the road ahead of them. Blue skies loomed over the horizon, which was fairly common weather for the large Californian city. The ocean shore was visible from their current position and they grew closer to it with each passing second. The campus appeared in Ino's line of vision and she noticed the vibrant Lamborghini parked in the parking lot in front of the dormitory building, along with a few other vehicles.

_Naruto_, she remembered, and found herself wondering who he would take to the party. She was positive that he did not know about it yet, but she still had to contemplate. He was easily one of the most attractive guys in the city and he could probably have any girl he met since he had many admirable qualities as well, but that seemed so unlike him. They had been friends for years and she knew that Naruto would not take any girl he just met to a special occasion. There was also the fact that hell would freeze over before Sakura would agree to go with him, and she had already claimed Gaara, even though it was without the redhead's permission. Not to mention that she, in a way, though reluctantly, had agreed to go with Neji. That left the question she wanted answered. With whom would Naruto go?

Ino turned to peek at Sakura from the corner of her eye and saw that she was somewhat tense now. She inferred that Sakura had seen Naruto's vivid tangerine car and had been reminded of the week's past events that she had momentarily forgotten. Ino swallowed hard. None of them had confronted their friend since that day, so she was unsure of what happened after they had left him there with Neji. They pulled into the parking lot in front of the large campus and Ino parked the magenta car that she and Sakura shared.

"Sakura," she started, her voice not sounding like her own. It lacked the usual spirited tinge it contained, and it seemed too serious to herself. The pink-haired girl turned around to face her friend and noticed that something was wrong. Immediately, she frowned. "Who do you think Naruto will take to Tsunade's party?" As soon as Ino said it, she regretted it, but she could not help herself. She had to know. Ino turned off their car and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Sakura's emerald eyes suddenly looked dull and her face fell.

"I don't know, and seriously, Ino, I don't really give a damn. He can pick up some twenty-dollar whore off the streets and bring her, or not even come at all, it wouldn't make a difference to me either way," she said as she reached to open the car door. Sakura had to admit that she was thankful that her pink hair was shielding her face at the moment. She had had a great time with her best friend, she had almost completely forgotten about the incident a few days ago, and then Ino brought it up. As soon as she read the personal invitation from Jiraiya, though, she knew within herself that the question was going to come up eventually.

Ino looked at her with concern. She knew better than to believe her words, but she dismissed it anyway. In an attempt to lighten the mood, she scanned the surrounding area, searching for something to suddenly become ecstatic about. Across the courtyard, she saw a person with red hair and beside it was a white, well-dressed figure. Gaara and Neji. Without wasting a second, she grabbed Sakura's arm and started to drag her in the direction of their friends.

"Ino? Where are you taking me?" She demanded, sounding a tad angry, but mostly confused. Sakura tried to yank her arm free from of Ino's grasp, but it was futile.

"Over there to Gaara and Neji so we can tell them about Tsunade's birthday party, and then to tell everyone in Konoha City," Ino explained as she continued to drag her friend towards them. She jumped up, waved, and the boys appeared to notice them, since they waved back.

Sakura blinked stupidly a few times. "Oh," she said with realization, and then broke free of her friend. They came to a halt and Ino turned to face her, one blonde eyebrow raised.

"God, where did you think I was taking you?" She asked, eyeing her suspiciously. Her expression then turned wary and she took a step away from her friend.

A pink tinge appeared on Sakura's cheeks when she grasped what Ino was implying. She gasped and spun on her heels to turn to face the blonde girl again, but she was running away like a maniac (the best she could run in those high heels, at least) and laughing loudly.

"I didn't mean it like that, you perverted idiot!" She shouted insistently and started to chase after her.

* * *

A ringing filled his ears. He did not know who or what it was; the only thing he thought he had to know was that it was preventing him from sleeping. His arm reached out and he started to search for a pillow. His fingers touched something soft and smooth, he immediately snatched it, and covered his head with it. A few of his sun-kissed locks were peeking out from underneath the pillow. Naruto burrowed himself further into the blankets on his bed and finally started to fall asleep again. A sleepy smile settled onto his face and he closed his cerulean eyes. A second later the ringing came back, seeming louder than before, as if it was right beside his ear. The golden-haired boy jumped when he heard the noise again and his eyes fluttered open.

Slowly, he took the pillow off of his head and lifted it, tiredly observing his surroundings, his hair sticking up in every single direction, even more than usual. There was that noise again. He glanced down and saw that his small orange phone was buried in the spot where his ear had previously been resting. His eyebrows knit angrily and he glared down at the phone. Naruto was never a man of common sense, even though it had been improving since his studies with Sasuke had begun, but he usually depended on instinct and acted on impulse. At the moment, his impulse seemed to specifically be to pick up his phone and angrily fling it across the room, and then watch it hit the wall. The alarm on the phone finally stopped. He smiled again, yawned, and collapsed back onto the bed, sprawled across the sheets.

His blue eyes snapped open abruptly and he almost jumped out of his skin. Naruto sprang up from the bed, hastily looked over his shoulder, and stared at the clock in his dormitory room. Shit. His eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. He was incredibly late, and he would entirely miss Professor Hatake's class if he did not get his ass moving soon. Naruto spazzed in a panic and started to dig frantically through a pile of clothing on his floor. He was becoming aggravated, since he could not distinguish what was clean from what was dirty. He stumbled over to his closet, ripped out the first wearable things he saw, and ran into the bathroom. Still moving quickly, he turned on his shower to scalding hot water, tossed his clothing into a corner, and started to undress himself. Naruto pulled his orange shirt over his head and let it drop to the floor, then stared at his reflection in the mirror.

This entire week had not been good to him. He looked disheveled and unkempt, with purple under his eyes. No matter how much sleep he seemed to get, it could not relieve him of the bags or this week's drama. He had not shaved in days and blond fuzz had built up on his face. For the past few days, he had been cooped up in his dorm, occasionally leaving to feed himself or to attend class. Naruto still had not recuperated from what had happened on the steps of Neji's mansion; thinking about it made him want to collapse on his bed and lay there until he was hungry enough to get up. He did not think it was possible to feel unashamed or forgive himself so easily. He had spent nights laying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to figure out how he could have possibly forgotten like that, and trying to think of how to get them to forgive him. Though, to himself, it was obvious that he did not deserve it, it did not keep him from wanting their forgiveness. These past few days no one had bothered to call him, so Naruto figured that he was not missed.

For another minute, he lingered in front of the mirror, staring at his reflection, letting the hot water in the shower run.

Naruto snapped out of his daze and walked over to the shower, dragging his feet as he went along. He let the burning hot water run into his hair, soaking it entirely. Vigorously, he began to scrub himself, and he was not satisfied until his skin was pink. Naruto shook his head to get his overgrown hair out of his eyes so he could see, and then washed his hair quickly. He stepped out of the shower, dripping wet, wrapped a towel around his waist, shaved the little golden hairs off of his face, and threw on the clothes in the corner. He did not bother to fix his hair or himself in any way or form besides that. Naruto grabbed his books and he was out the door in a few short moments. He soon found himself in the hallway outside of Professor Hatake's classroom.

He checked the time on his phone and frowned. The time indicated that his class should be ending about now. Naruto looked up and, right on cue, many students started to file out of the door like a river of every color. Naruto's shoulders sagged, he walked over to the nearest brick wall, and leant against it, looking defeated and out of it. He let his books drop into a nice pile on the floor and he sighed, lifting his head to look at the ceiling. His still-wet hair touched the collar of his shirt and dampened it.

"Naruto?" A strange voice asked, one that seemed unfamiliar. Slowly, he turned his head and looked over to the person that had called his name. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Sasuke standing there, in his usual combination of black and dark blue clothing. He was holding some books and had a weird expression on his face. Naruto forced himself to get off the wall, his arms hanging lifelessly at his sides.

"Oh, hey Sasuke. I haven't heard from you in a while. What's up?" He asked, his voice sounding a little hoarse, since he had not used it in a few days. He forced a smile onto his face.

Sasuke stared at him with suspicious eyes, feeling inexplicably weird inside when Naruto gave him that heart-breaking smile. There was obviously something wrong that he did not know about. Hastily, he walked towards his friend and did not stop until he was a few feet away from him.

"Where have you been? I haven't seen you in days. Did something happen?" He said, just a little too quickly.

He knew that he sounded fairly different when he was talking. He had to admit that he had been worried. It was a well-known fact that Uchiha's did not simply worry like that, so he preferred to say that he had been troubled instead. He had no idea why not seeing Naruto had driven him off the edge. He assumed it was because he was so used to seeing him often, so it was strange when he disappeared abruptly. On normal days, the blond idiot would always pay him a visit at his dorm and he would always see him on campus. Sasuke had thought about calling him, but he ended up just sitting next to the phone for about an hour, staring at it.

"Calm down, Sasuke, stop spazzing. I'm right here," Naruto teased and placed a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke briefly directed his attention towards the tanned hand resting on his shoulder, but then quickly averted his eyes and glowered at him, still suspicious.

"Tell me what happened, Naruto," he said, almost sounding caring, and shrugged Naruto's hand off his shoulder. He still felt the warmth of his hand there, though. Naruto's face fell and he brought one hand up to his face, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He frowned when he noticed the lack of the word 'dobe' that he had come to think of as Sasuke's 'affectionate' nickname for him. Naruto sighed, submitted, and decided to give a brief description of the days past events, leaving out most of the details.

"The day I went with you to the beach...yeah, I kinda screwed up...a lot," Naruto murmured, scratching behind his head sheepishly. He directed his eyes downward and started to count the dots on the floor.

"What do you mean by 'screwed up a lot'?" Sasuke asked somewhat harshly, becoming somewhat annoyed that Naruto did not seem to want to tell him directly. Naruto could tell that Sasuke was not going to make this easy for him. Quickly, he changed his mind about his previous decision and figured that he would tell him most of the story. After all, this was Sasuke's way of being concerned. Naruto had no trouble admitting it to himself, but the fact that Sasuke was the slightest bit worried about him lightened his mood. It was nice to know that someone cared.

"Long story short, I sorta kinda might have ditched them for you without knowing it and then they kicked my ass emotionally," Naruto said blatantly. Sasuke blinked, absorbing the information that his friend had just given him. He clenched his fists tightly and kept his arms glued to his side. Why did they have to put Naruto through hell? It did not help any that he seemed to be the reason why they were mad at him. He saw Naruto staring at his fists with sad hazy eyes and he immediately shoved them into his pockets, trying to calm down.

"That doesn't seem like a very long story," Sasuke said pointedly. The whiskered-boy standing before him merely shrugged and shoved his own hands into the pockets of his shorts. He stared down at his shoes and shuffled on his feet.

"It may sound simple to you, but believe me, it's not," Naruto said, sighing heavily.

He took his hands out from his pockets, rubbed his tired eyes, and then began to massage his temples, a troubled expression on his face. Sasuke felt like doing the same, but he kept his balled fists in his pockets. Lately, life had been too dramatic ever since Naruto came into the picture, not that he regretted it in any way. That thought actually surprised him. It was somewhat amusing how a blond idiot with a short temper could get to him so easily, and in just a couple of months, after he had closed himself off from all interaction with the world for years.

Sasuke continued to stare at him with his obsidian eyes, and then finally he spoke. "I believe you," he said, and smiled at him slightly. Naruto looked up without raising his head and returned the smile, though it was far warmer than that of Sasuke.

"Yeah. Thanks, Sasuke," he said softly and smiled again, more brightly and animated this time, much more like his usual self.

Naruto took a few steps towards Sasuke and for a moment he thought that Naruto was going to hug him, but then he patted him on the head, ruffled his raven hair, and grinned. Sasuke glared at him and swatted his hand away, even though something that he had never experienced had just happened. He, Sasuke Uchiha, cold-hearted ice cube bastard, felt like he had just melted. There was this incredibly strange, warm sensation in the pit of his stomach that he had never felt in his life. And he just happened to decide that he did not like it at all.

"Naruto! There you are!" A female voice shouted from what appeared to be across the hall. Simultaneously, they turned their heads around in the direction from which the noise came. The tall, slutty, blonde girl that Sasuke recognized as one of Naruto's so-called friends was jumping up and down while waving at them. Ino ran over to them and grinned enthusiastically at both. Sasuke just stared at her as if she had come back from the dead.

"I've been looking all over for you. I have a class in a few minutes so we don't have much time left to talk," she said, strictly speaking to Naruto, facing him. Ino looked from Sasuke to Naruto and then raised her eyebrows. "Unless...of course..." She added, a devious grin settling onto her features, "...I was interrupting something." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and turned to face Sasuke, that same smile still present on her face. "Hi, Sasuke," she greeted him cheerily.

"Hi." He had no choice but to respond, but that did not mean he had to do it nicely. He gave her a deadpan look and regarded her coldly. At least she was not as bad as the pink thing that Naruto had formerly dated, but she seemed a little too enthusiastic, and not to mention perverted. Sasuke did not miss what she had implied about them. Those unusual feelings in his stomach were now gone and he reverted back to his default setting of glaring.

Ino dismissed the look that the little emo kid had given her and turned her attention back to her friend. "Anyway, I really need to talk to you. All of us do," she said, and tugged on his toned arm. He exchanged looks with Sasuke and then stared at her, confused, uncertain about what was happening. He expected her to be angry; she was on the verge of crying the last time he had seen her. His eyebrows knitted, he looked into Ino's periwinkle eyes, and nodded uncertainly.

"Um...okay? Bye, 'suke...I guess..." Naruto said and waved awkwardly at his friend. Sasuke gave him a curt nod. Naruto smiled crookedly, and then turned to face Ino.

"Good, that makes it much easier for me. I was going to drag you to the courtyard if you said no, anyway," she said, playfully whacking his arm. Sasuke strolled down the hallway and listened to Naruto's laughter echo through the halls of the campus. For some reason unbeknown to him, he decided to stick around for a little while longer. It was not eavesdropping, spying, nor stalking. It was just...watching while being unseen and unheard by the people he was watching. Yes, that was it. Sasuke turned a corner, leant against the wall, and listened. He had no doubt that he would be able to hear both blondes, since they were rather loud. He heard Naruto's laughter dissipate into what seemed to be an awkward silence.

"…So, Ino...what is it that you need to talk to me about? I mean, really, this is kind of strange...After all that the other day, you just stroll up to me like nothing ever "

"That's what we need to talk to you about." She cut him off, staring at him with hopeful eyes. Naruto's eyes widened slightly. He stared at the girl, dumbfounded, unsure if he had heard her correctly. It was impossible for them to forgive him so quickly. Ino laughed and hit his arm again to make him snap out of his daze. "You heard me correctly. Don't worry, you're not going insane." She grinned at him. He chuckled lightly and smiled, still looking somewhat unsure.

"If what you say is true, then why...?" Naruto asked, confused. Ino sighed and rolled her eyes, smiling. She did not know that being the messenger meant that she would have to explain everything in order for him to understand.

"We need you. It's not the same without you...we have too much history together, Naruto. We're family, and we can't throw all those years away over some mistake...Besides, I know that you will never do that again. Because if you do, I want to make sure you know I'm going to get Sakura to whip your ass," she said playfully and jabbed her finger into his chest, putting on a fake face of determination. Naruto's mood instantly lifted and he laughed, swatting her hand away, a huge smile planted on his face. He was so glad.

"Come here and give me a hug, you idiot," Ino said, laughing.

She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck. Naruto was caught off guard, but he hugged her back nonetheless. Sasuke stared as Ino quickly give him a peck on his whiskered cheek before jumping back down. She tugged on his arm and ran off, dragging him towards the main entrance of the campus. Even after they were gone, he continued to stare. A strange feeling churned in his stomach, making him feel angry and resentful towards Ino. He disliked the fact that all these feelings were being rediscovered within him lately. Life was much easier and simpler when Sasuke Uchiha did not feel affection, worry, or jealousy...

* * *

Sakura ostentatiously swung the bags on her arms around, displaying them for all to see. They were heavy, filled with the most expensive designer clothing, and not to mention leaving marks on her arms. The pink-haired girl strutted through the mall with her friends on either side of her, carrying their own bags of purchased items as well. Gaara had gone into that store again and the girls had to send Neji inside to retrieve him. Again. Somehow, Sakura and Ino became involved in a shopping contest of some sort, and were now competing against each other to buy the most clothes and obtain the largest amount of bags on their arms. Neji bought nothing but the water that he was currently drinking. They neared the center of the Konoha City mall, where a large fountain lay, shooting sparkling crystal-like water in every direction, and more importantly, where their meeting spot was located.

Sakura dreaded the moment that they would reach that spot, because that was where she was supposed to meet Naruto. She was the one who was assigned the task of notifying him about the party and that they were shopping for dresses and tuxedos after their classes today, since it skipped their mind when they were forgiving him and accepting his apologies. Well, except Sakura, since she had kept her mouth shut tightly when it was her turn. Sakura did not want him to come to the mall with them and she could not forgive him as easily as the others, so she decided to 'forget' to tell him.

They reached the center of the mall and they all sat down on the edge of the fountain. Neji, Ino, and Gaara started to scope the area for any signs of their golden-haired friend. They found none. The four of them waited a few more minutes in case he was running late, but he still did not show. Slowly, three heads turned suspiciously toward the only pink-haired girl in the city.

"Sakura..." Gaara started, glaring at her ominously. "Where's Naruto?" The redhead asked. The said girl just looked down and stared at her heels.

"Sakura!" Ino shouted, frustrated, in an attempt to get her to snap out of her daze. Her head snapped up and she looked at her friends, smiling weakly, a slight blush on her face.

"What?" She asked, feigning innocence. Her friend stared at her as if she could not believe what she was seeing. With all eyes on her, she could not help but become nervous and started to twirl an artificially pink strand of hair around her finger. Neji stared at her with his penetrating, white eyes until she looked up.

"Sakura," he repeated once he had her attention, speaking with the patience that they all wish they had. It was as if he was talking to a child, rather than an eighteen year old. "Where's Naruto? You were responsible for telling him to meet us here."

"Oh, um, yeah, that...I sorta...forgot," she said somewhat meekly, her cheeks tinting light pink. She shrugged her shoulders as if she was dismissing the topic, and then bent down to grab her bags. She stood up and struggled to balance all of them between her two arms, then smiled. "Since we know he isn't showing up, why don't we go and continue shopping? I say that we all get Armani dresses and tuxes," she suggested, staring at her friends with hopeful green eyes.

They exchanged glances, shrugged, and stood up. Neji threw his empty water bottle into a nearby recycling can and then looked at Gaara, who picked up his overstuffed bag. Ino did the same, except she dropped her bags everywhere in the process, resulting in Gaara helping her pick them up. Her periwinkle eyes flashed at him, and then the blonde girl turned to Neji and whispered something in his ear when Sakura was not looking.

Ino pulled away from his ear and sauntered over to Gaara's side. "I could use a little help," he murmured under his breath, glaring daggers at the girl beside him. She smirked and simply shook her head.

"No can do, you're the one helping me, remember?" Ino reminded him and continued to watch him struggle with all of her bags. He mumbled something incoherently and turned his attention to Neji. Ino did the same.

"All set?" Neji asked, receiving nods from his friends. Sakura spun on her heels and turned to face him.

"Yeah, let's go," she said, relieved. She could not believe how easy it was to get them to buy her excuse, especially when it was obvious that she disliked Naruto. Sakura was a smart girl, though, and something in the back of her mind was warning her that they knew about her little plot. For now, she ignored it, and they continued on their journey to the store. In no time they reached their destination.

"Oh, look how cute that dress is!" Ino shouted as soon as she walked into the store, eyeing a pale blue dress. Briefly, her eyes met Neji's, but they quickly darted away and she started to march towards the dress. "Come on, Gaara!" She called after the said boy.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he mumbled and trailed after her, the thought of dropping all of her bags and walking out of the store crossing his mind. He had to say, it was very tempting. Nonetheless, he continued to follow her and disappeared into the depths of the store. Neji turned and looked to see that he and Sakura were the only ones left.

Quickly, he snatched the first tuxedo he saw. "I'm going to go try this on," he shouted over his shoulder.

"Okay. I'll just stay here," she said, not even turning around. Sakura was too busy feeling the material of a silky red dress that she appeared to be mesmerized by. Neji turned around, marched to the men's changing rooms, locked himself in one, and hung the tux up. He pulled his cell phone out of the pocket of his pants and flipped it open. He speed-dialed Naruto, swiftly pulled it up to his ear, and waited for him to pick up his phone. It rang several times, and just when he was about to hang up and try again, his friend picked up the phone.

"Damn, I'm surprised this thing still works after how I threw it at the wall this morning..." Naruto said absentmindedly, stating his thoughts aloud.

"Hello to you too, Naruto," Neji said, smirking slightly at the way the blond had greeted him. "Anyway, where are you? Did Sakura mention anything to you about going to the mall with us today?" He asked, keeping his voice low in case a certain pink-haired girl happened to stroll by.

"Mall?" Naruto asked, sounding confused. He racked his brain for anything that Sakura might have mentioned to him, if she had talked to him at all today. "Nope. I haven't spoken to her since well...you know...Oh, and I'm in my dorm room, just working on some shit for school. Why do you ask?" He queried curiously.

"I knew it..." Neji mumbled, talking more to himself than his whiskered friend. He snapped out of his thoughts and continued whispering into the phone. "Listen, Naruto, there's a huge birthday party for Tsunade coming up, and the whole city happens to know except you, due to the fact that you were late and missed Ino telling everybody. We told Sakura to tell you, but she pretended that she forgot to do so. It's in about a week or so...very short notice. You need a date, and a tux, asap." He finished and took a breath. He gave Naruto a moment to absorb the information.

It was somewhat delayed, but eventually it did come. "_What!_" Naruto screamed into the phone, gripping it tightly. Neji sighed and nodded his head, even though he could not see him. On the other side of the line, Naruto started to panic and paced around his dorm restlessly. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to think of any girl that he could possibly ask. "Is Ino going with anyone? Oh god...who the hell am I supposed to take...?"

"Ino's going with me, actually. I'm sorry, Naruto," he said, apologizing. He had no doubt, though, that Naruto would find a girl willing to go with him to the party, and in no less than five minutes, actually. He was the most popular guy around, so all the panic was not so necessary. He understood, though, that it was quite unlike Naruto to ask any random girl that he had most likely never interacted with before to the party.

"Ah...It's okay, I'll...find someone..." He said, exhaling heavily. Again, he ran a hand through his blond hair. One person did come to mind, though. "Thanks for telling me, Nej. I'm going to go now and, er, work on getting a date."

"Good luck," Neji said, and then heard him hang up his phone. He snapped his phone shut and sighed, leaning against the wall of the changing room. He stared at the tuxedo hanging on the wall across from him. He shrugged and decided that while he was there, he might as well try it on.

* * *

Naruto paced around his dorm, trying to decide whether or not he should ask this person. It was crazy, completely irrational, and would take so much to pull it off, but it would be well worth it. He could not think of anyone else he would rather bring. He had both hands in his hair now, and he continued to pace. Abruptly, he stopped in the middle of the room, closed his eyes, and exhaled. Naruto had come to a conclusion. He was going to ask them, and he was not even sure that they would say yes, but he could try. If they said no, then he would simply not go, even though it was suicide. Then again, Naruto Uzumaki had to be there. He sighed again, winged it, and went with his instinct. He began to stomp towards the door and he felt his foot step on something. Naruto glanced down and lifted his shoe, seeing his orange cell phone that he had tossed on the floor when he hung up. "Damn." Naruto stepped over it, walked out the door, into the hallway, and hovered there for a moment.

Gathering his courage and abandoning all common sense, he strode towards the door of Sasuke's dorm. Suddenly, he became very nervous as he stood in front of the door, unsure of whether or not to take the next step and knock on it. He shifted from one foot to the other, finally extended his arm, and knocked on the door, his arm shaking. He withdrew his hand and he waited for what felt like an eternity.

Sasuke opened the door and appeared from behind it, looking the same as usual. Straight raven hair that was longer in the front and unusually spiked in the back, alabaster skin that was so white it practically glowed, and dark obsidian eyes. Naruto smiled at him uneasily and still felt extremely nervous. Suddenly he felt hot and started to pull at his shirt collar.

"Um, hey, Sasuke..." He said awkwardly, unusually stiff.

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at him and stared, wondering what was up with him. "Hello, Naruto. Is there something you want?" He asked, staring at him expectantly.

"Sasuke, will you be my date to Tsunade's party?"


	11. How to Be a Girl for Dummies

In this chapter, there is Tenten. Since she is a minor character in the Naruto anime/manga, I wasn't really sure how to portray her. I don't know if it reveals anything more about her personality (other than her mad pointy-object skillz and that she has some sort of feelings towards Neji) in the fillers, since I refuse to watch them. So, um, just go with it!

Oh, and special thanks to Vio-chan, for being my 300th reviewer! You rock! :D

It's not what you think people. It's not, seriously. You've been warned!

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _You know what I'm going to say here.

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, inappropriate-for-your-gender stores, girly shiz, guest stars, and CrossDressing!Sasuke.

_Review...even though I'm scared..o.o_

* * *

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: HOW TO BE A GIRL FOR DUMMIES**

Naruto lay on Sasuke's bed with both arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Sasuke sat next to him near the head of the bed, looking down at his feet awkwardly. He had to say, it was a little more than strange and surprising when Naruto had appeared at his door not too long ago and had asked him to be his date to Tsunade's party. Of course, he had heard about it, since Ino and Sakura had ran throughout the hallways screaming about what they had found out, but he had never planned on attending. Parties meant hordes of people, socializing, music, dancing, and if Jiraiya was there, alcohol and whores. Really, he would rather stay home any day. As soon as Naruto asked him, though, he knew his answer. It was somewhere along the lines of 'hell yes!'. He had surprised himself with the fact that he did not even need to think about it.

His lack of thought, though, was something that he regretted. He did not want to seem like a rabid, over-excited fan girl (though he could not deny the fact that his heart rate had rapidly increased when the Naruto had dropped the bomb), so he invited him in while he thought about it. Naruto had not yet seated himself by the time Sasuke had agreed. At the time, he did not consider how it would work, or what the exact conditions of being his date were. Something about Naruto made him act differently when he was around him.

After Sasuke had agreed to be his date, which was somewhat embarrassing, for some reason unbeknown to him, Naruto had looked positively ecstatic and had smiled one of those smiles. The kind in which his cerulean eyes twinkled and he looked as if nothing could have made him happier. The kind that made Sasuke's stomach do back flips.

He thought that Naruto was going to hug him, but that did not happen. Sasuke wanted to bang his head against the wall; if that did in fact happen, he would have hugged him back without a second thought, so unlike before. Sasuke had hardly thought about his on-the-loose, mass-murdering brother, Itachi, since things had changed. He did not know when exactly it started to happen, but things between he and Naruto were different than before. He was not shouting death threats at Naruto as often or being as unkind and withdrawn as he used to be, and Naruto was not dragging him to bars or participating in Sasuke-bets, but it was hard to explain. Sasuke just felt that things between them were certainly not the same, that there was more to it than friendship. It did not help that he had no idea whatsoever about how Naruto felt. He had thought that Naruto was an open book, but he was harder to read than he had expected. The realization that Naruto flirted with him shamelessly all the time did not help either. But he flirted with everyone. Actually, Sasuke was not so sure.

Naruto counted the dots on the ceiling idly, something that was becoming a habit of his. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence, which was silently agreed upon since they both had a need to retreat into their own thoughts. He was still lying on the bed lazily. The scent of peaches filled his nostrils, and he smiled, reminded that Sasuke was right there, sitting beside him. Really, he could hardly believe that Sasuke had said yes. Sooner or later, he would have to blurt that out to him, since so many unanswered questions were running through his mind. Mainly, _why? Why did you say yes? _Sasuke asked no questions, nor did he, but he just had to know. He was so happy that he did agree, though, since that meant he was saved from going without a date, or not going at all. Naruto realized that that was not the reason for his happiness. He knew he was euphoric because they were going together as a couple, in a way. _Naruto-and-Sasuke_. It was not as if he would ever state that aloud, though. As far as Sasuke knew, they were going as friends, because that was what they were supposed to be.

Just friends.

Naruto sat up and stared at the boy sitting next to him for a few moments. Sasuke did not seem to notice that he had sat up, his black eyes looking distant. He had never thought that he would see the day that Sasuke Uchiha became dazed. Suddenly, Naruto thought of something and he smirked, his eyes sparkling mischievously. He tried to be as quiet as he possibly could; keeping his mouth shut for once, and crawled up behind Sasuke.

"Yo Sasuke-bastard, you there?" He murmured and smirked against his friend's ear. Sasuke jumped when he felt hot breath against his ear. It sent chills up and down his spine. He snapped out of his trance-like state and glared at Naruto, but it lacked ferocity. He felt the warmth on his ear receding.

"Dobe," he said, acknowledging him, still glowering. "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing, I just wanted to see if you were still alive," Naruto chirped, wearing a smile that was obviously mocking the other boy. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and fell silent, uncertainty evident in his dark eyes. Naruto collapsed back onto the bed and closed his eyes, letting his shaggy, golden hair cover half of his face. He cracked open one blue eye and stared at his friend, and then he up opened his other eye and raised his eyebrows. Sasuke, who probably thought that Naruto was not looking, was unconsciously reaching up to touch his ear. Maybe it was a mere coincidence that it was the ear that Naruto had whispered into, or maybe, it was not.

"Come down here with me and stop spacing out," Naruto mumbled, so quietly that Sasuke barely heard it. Quickly, he removed his hand from his ear and turned to glare, something that was definitely a habit of his. Naruto's strong, tanned arm grabbed his slender, pale one and yanked him down so that he was now lying on the bed beside Naruto. They were both staring up at the ceiling. Sasuke felt oddly comfortable, lying there next to him, but highly uncomfortable at the same time. "Can't have my date going dead on me, now can I?" Naruto said, grinning crookedly.

"I'm not dead, idiot." Sasuke said and continued to face the ceiling. Naruto turned to face Sasuke and scrutinized him carefully, noticing that he was looking rather tense and more stiff than usual. His eyelids dropped half way down and his eyebrows rose again. Seriously, he had no idea what was with Sasuke today. He considered that it may have been his random appearance and sudden blurting of the question, but Sasuke probably knew that he was never one for small talk and would rather be direct. If Sasuke thought that asking him to the party had not been weird for Naruto, he would have to rethink that.

"About that being your...date..." Sasuke started awkwardly, seeming to be searching for the right words.

Naruto's heart rate increased and he stared at him with large, blue eyes. He feared that Sasuke was reconsidering. It was so unlike him to agree in the first place, so Naruto would not be surprised if he had changed his mind after thinking it through. "Uh, yeah?" He asked, sounding apprehensive.

"Why did you pick me to be your date?" Sasuke asked, finally turning his head to face him. As soon as he spoke, a wave of relief washed over Naruto. So, he was not going to change his mind and deny him; he was simply asking a question about why he had asked him, when it was obvious that he could have any girl. Hell, even a couple of the guys, if he really wanted..._Oh, shit! How the hell am I going to explain that to him? _Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but said nothing. He snapped his jaw shut and opened his mouth again to speak after a brief period of thinking, but again, he made no sound. Naruto grunted and sat up, placing a hand onto his chin in thought. Sasuke also sat up, staring at him intently.

"Well?"

"God, give me a second, will ya, you bastard?" Naruto snapped, running both of his hands through his hair. Sasuke just stared at him and raised one black, elegant eyebrow. "This isn't exactly easy to explain, you know..." Naruto mumbled. He tried to think of a way to tell him why exactly, of all the people in Konoha City, he had chosen him. He could blame it on the short notice and say that Sasuke was the first person that he thought of asking, but that was not it entirely, and it would not feel right if he lied. He let out a breath and decided that he would just improvise and tell the truth. First, he would have to find a way to delineate it, though. Sasuke continued to stare at him, the words he had just previously uttered piquing his interest.

"Well...I don't know, when I heard, I just...you were the first person I thought of. I couldn't imagine myself going with anyone else except for you," Naruto said quietly, looking down at his knees. Sasuke noticed the slightest tinge of pink appearing on Naruto's tanned cheeks. His eyes briefly widened and he replayed Naruto's words in his head. Sasuke began to feel a prickling heat on his cheeks; he knew that he was starting to blush. "I just did what I always do. I followed my instincts and asked you to be my date, no matter how wild and crazy that idea was. I knew you would probably say no, but it looks like I got lucky, huh?"

He laughed nervously and scratched his whisker-tattoos sheepishly. Sasuke stared at him with wide eyes and a red face, not saying a word. This just made Naruto blush harder. This was the first time that Sasuke had ever seen him act anxious and unsure. Usually, Naruto was so self-assured and cocky. Now, he was speaking quietly rather than loudly, and it was the first time that Sasuke had ever seen him blush like that. That could not be good.

"R-right. Well, I'm not so sure if that was the answer that you were looking for..." Naruto said, looking up and inspecting Sasuke's face. "Or the answer that you were expecting. But...I hope you understand why, out of all people, I chose you. You know, if you had said no, then I wouldn't have gone to the party at all." He smiled softly at him, a light shade of pink still tinting his cheeks. He stared at his friend, who still was not showing any sign of responding to his words. He brushed his blond bangs away from his eyes, so that more of his face was visible. Naruto hoped that that was the right thing to say.

"This means so much to me, Sasuke...Thanks."

That smile killed him. Every time he received one of those, he felt like he was having a heart attack. Sasuke remembered how to breathe and inhaled, the blush finally receding on his face. His heart was still pumping quickly and loudly, but he managed to smile back, just barely. He realized how pathetic he was, because after receiving that look from Naruto, he knew that there was no way now that he would ever say no. There was no going back on this decision.

"My pleasure," Sasuke said truthfully, as if it was nothing. A sudden burst of energy filled Naruto and he had the urge to pull his friend into a hug. He did not think about it at all and threw his arms around Sasuke. He hugged him tightly, overcome by happiness. Not to mention, overcome by the smell of peaches as well. Actually, it smelt sweet and rather nice. Naruto was enjoying it and secretly, he was also enjoying the contact between Sasuke and himself. He did not want to let go and he did not care how awkward it would probably be afterwards. He noted that Sasuke was not putting up much of a fight either.

Sasuke found himself relaxing into the hug, marveling at Naruto's warmth. He could not bring himself to hug him back, though, for a reason unknown to him. Could it be because everything about being around Naruto contradicted him so? He did things that he would never have done if anyone else was present instead of him. Sasuke feared that he was enjoying the hug a little too much. He would have to end it quite soon.

Sasuke broke out of his grasp and Naruto just blinked at him. "There's always time for man-hugs later, Naruto," he said quickly, making up an excuse. Naruto shrugged and nodded, a smirk appearing on his face. "But..." He started. Naruto turned to look at him, his blue eyes questioning. "How is this going to work?" Sasuke asked. "I don't know how everyone would react to you and I showing up at Tsunade's party...together," he finished, feeling awkward saying those words. He no longer cared what everyone would think, but he was wondering what his 'date' had in mind.

Naruto looked at him with a contemplative expression. Thanks to his scanty amount of thinking, he had not gotten that far into planning. Under no circumstances could he show up with Sasuke on his arm, as he looked now, except in a tuxedo. What would that say about him? Yeah, they were friends. Naruto did not want anyone getting ideas that they were more than that. Even if he told everyone that they were going as friends, would they believe him? Would they accept his explanation, yet still wonder why he chose a guy? Even if Sasuke was his best friend. Actually, it was rather simple, but still a severe complication. He really should have planned ahead, if the freaky and unlikely possibility that Sasuke agreed occurred. Now, it had happened and he was left without a plan. He was ecstatic to be going with Sasuke, but this problem darkened Naruto's mood slightly.

He figured that it was not anything that he could not fix. The image Naruto envisioned when he tried to think of a solution was somewhat mentally-scarring at first, but he thought that it could probably work. It was Sasuke, in a gorgeous, shining, midnight black dress, with some cosmetics, his hair brushed out, and various other things. And he looked like a beautiful girl.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, bringing him back down to earth. He gazed at him coolly, and arched one eyebrow at his thoughtful expression. It was never good when Naruto was thinking this hard about something.

"Um, yeah. I was just thinking," he said, shaking his head, snapping himself out of his daze. He turned to face Sasuke and stared directly into his bottomless, black eyes; he wanted to make sure that there was eye contact when he presented his plan. He bit his lower lip and exhaled heavily. "I have a plan, but I don't think you're going to like it..." Naruto said. "Of course, you could always say no if you don't want to, and then I'll just, you know, not go to the party." Not to mention commit social suicide, which would also happen if he brought Sasuke along just as he was. And he would not be able to attend Tsunade's party with him, which seemed to be the worst of them all.

Sasuke raised both eyebrows at this, suspicious. "You must've figured out by now that I really can't just take you as you are...being a guy when I am also so obviously a guy and all that. So, I figured-"

"That I cross-dress?" Sasuke interjected, sounding much calmer than he felt. He was somewhat disappointed, but he could see from where Naruto was coming. _What is wrong with me the way I already am? To hell with the fact that I'm male_. It angered him some, but it was predictable that someone in their circumstances would come up with that solution. Though, he highly doubted anyone was ever in a situation like theirs.

The idea of him in a dress, with cosmetics, and looking like a female made him want to puke. As if anyone would buy it anyway, unless they altered his appearance so much that he was unrecognizable, or it was too dark to see him clearly. Plus, who would think that _the_ Sasuke Uchiha would ever agree to something like that? Though, he was considering it. _What the fuck is wrong with me?_

He wore a calm expression that puzzled Naruto greatly. The whiskered-boy let go of the breath that he had been holding and nodded his head, staring at him incredulously. "…Yeah. I thought that would work, considering the circumstances," he said, staring at his friend weirdly. He was certainly not expecting this reaction from him. Quite the opposite, actually. He was also rather surprised that he guessed what he was thinking.

"Is that...Okay?" Naruto asked guardedly, preparing himself both physically and mentally for Sasuke's answer. His friend did not say anything for a long time and just stared down at the black jeans he was wearing. Naruto held his breath, thankful that Sasuke was considering it at all. He became excited and even somewhat hopeful. Sasuke had said yes to the first question, so there was a chance that he would say yes to the second, was there not?

_No. It is not okay. You expect me to dress up like a girl for you? I see why you think that, and I can see how hopeful you are...And I can see that smile on your face and the look in your eyes_. Sasuke looked up and stared at him, arguing with himself in his mind. Damn him and that smile. Sasuke frowned, unhappy with himself. But he would be making Naruto happy.

"Yes. I'm...all for it." Sasuke said, trying to lie convincingly. Naruto's eyes went wide with shock and he stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" He asked skeptically. Sasuke nodded curtly and Naruto's face lit up. That made it all the more worth it. He smiled so wide that his face hurt and he jumped up from his sitting position on the bed, bringing his friend up with him. "Oh my fucking god, I can't believe it! Thank you so fucking much!" Naruto exclaimed, filled with energy.

For the second time, Sasuke felt himself being lifted off the ground and his lungs becoming crushed. Naruto was laughing and spinning him around while hugging him like he did after he had done well on one his exams some time ago. Sasuke could not help but smile slightly at how thrilled Naruto had become. "I said to save the hugs for later," Sasuke reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," Naruto laughed self-consciously, and then carefully placed Sasuke onto the ground. "I forgot about the no-man-hugs policy," he said jokingly, a fox-grin appearing on his face. His eyes softened and his grin turned into a warm smile. "But seriously, Sasuke, I promise you won't regret this. It means so much to me, and you made me so happy just now. I can't thank you enough, 'suke."

"It's not such a big deal," Sasuke insisted, feeling embarrassed for some reason. The blush was now returning to his face. "You're welcome, dobe."

Naruto smiled crookedly and patted Sasuke on his head. He sauntered towards the door and opened it slightly, then turned to face the now confused Sasuke. "Gotta go prepare for the party. You know, buy you the stuff necessary. What color contacts do you want?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

Sasuke thought that was a good idea. At least that would make him less recognizable. No one around Konoha City did have the same dark eyes as him. The same applied to Naruto. He had never seen such eyes before, much less on someone with a Japanese background, like most people in the city had. "Blue," Sasuke said, smirking slightly.

"Alrighty then. I'll be back later. See ya, 'suke." With a smile and a wave, Naruto had gone out the door. Sasuke nodded even though he was no longer there and slowly walked over to his bed. He heard the sound of car doors opening, then closing, and the engine of a car revving. He lay on his bed, his head facing down into the pillow, and told himself over and over again that he was stupid. This could not be good for his Uchiha Pride.

* * *

Naruto, Gaara, Neji, Sakura, and Ino stood in a tight circle, a fountain spraying crystal clear water behind them. They were on campus; very few students were to be seen around them, since most of them had returned to their homes for the evening. Everything had returned to normal between the five of them. Sakura and Naruto, though, usually did not look at each other or speak to each other directly unless it was mandatory. Their family had been brought back together and they intended for it remain that way as long as they could manage. Everything seemed identical to earlier, but beneath that, it was somehow different. They needed to be careful with each other and they no longer held the same amount of trust between them. Still, no matter what, they were best friends, and they were family.

"What happened to that pretty pale blue dress you were looking at, Ino? It matched your eyes really well," Sakura asked, tucking a few strands of artificially pink hair behind her ear.

"Huh. A dress that color would look really good on you, once I think about it," Naruto said.

"Ugh. Now you guys tell me. Why didn't you say anything then? I bought a black dress instead," Ino said, pouting. She directed her glower towards the redhead standing across the circle from her. He merely shrugged and gazed at her with an expressionless face. Regardless, she swore that she saw his lips twitch upwards with the slightest smirk. The little bastard.

"What does Gaara have to do with the dress you got?" Neji queried, staring at her with his white eyes. He arched one eyebrow and stared at her expectantly, as did everyone else. Ino glanced back and forth between the four pairs of eyes and settled for glaring at Gaara again.

"He convinced me into getting a black dress," she said accusingly, tilting her chin in his direction. Three heads turned and stared at him curiously. "I hate you, Gaara," Ino said, pouting at him once more.

"I hate you, too," Gaara said smoothly, smirking. All of them laughed, except for Ino, who continued to pout angrily.

"That's what you get for dragging Gaara along with you when you're trying to shop," Naruto said, laughing. Everyone nodded in agreement with either smirks or smiles on their faces.

"Remind me to never do that again," Ino deadpanned, still glaring at Gaara from the corner of her eye. Again they laughed, enjoying each other's company. It could not get any better than this, especially for Naruto. He had gotten his friends back, and not to mention, he had gotten who he wanted as his date. The party was only a few days away, and he would have to start the 'How to Be a Girl for Dummies' lessons with Sasuke soon. That was something that he was anticipating.

Sakura stared at Naruto furtively and watched an elated smirk appear on his face. Since they were talking about the party anyway, was it not appropriate to ask with whom he was attending? Or, more specifically, with whom he was _not_ attending? The pink-haired girl decided that she would ask him casually, since they happened to be on the subject. She would not mention, though, that she was eager to make a comment about it.

"So, Naruto. Who are you taking to the party? Or have you not gotten yourself a date yet?" Sakura asked nonchalantly, staring at him with taunting emerald eyes. Naruto looked at her and knew the true meaning behind her words. He sighed inwardly, wondering why she had not yet recovered entirely. They had broken up over a month ago, yet she still held a grudge.

"Actually, I do have a date," he announced with a smirk, regarding Sakura with a smug expression. She stared at him incredulously, at a loss for words. He had to be lying. She knew that he was not that type of guy. Naruto's answer to her question captured Neji, Ino, and Gaara's attention and the three of them stared at him. Ino seemed surprised along with Gaara, though he tried not to show it. Neji, though, stared at him with concealed suspicion.

"What's her name?" Sakura prodded, glaring at him.

Naruto stiffened for a moment, mentally slapping himself for not having thought of a name sooner. He knew that this question would arise sooner or later. He racked his brain for a name to call his date by, but he could not seem to think of anything. Sakura started to smirk slowly; he could tell that she thought that he was lying. "Sa...Satari. Her name is Satari-chan," he said, meeting Sakura's gaze.

"Really? I've never heard of her before. Does she live in Konoha City?" Ino asked, staring at Naruto with curious periwinkle eyes.

"Well, yeah, but she just moved here, and lives in the outskirts of the city, so it's possible that you haven't heard of her yet," Naruto lied awkwardly, hoping that they would believe him.

"How did you two meet?" Gaara questioned.

"It was an accident, really. I was cruising around the outskirts of the city and I saw her through a window inside a bar, trying to get away from these old drunk bastards. So, I decided to help out." Naruto smiled as brightly and as convincingly as he could. He was not very good at this lying, but at least he was trying. Some of the story was true, in a twisted way. At least the parts including accidental meetings (in a way), bars (even though Naruto was the one who brought Sasuke there), and drunken people (including himself)."It just, you know, went on from there," he said casually, dismissing it. He did not want to dwell on the topic for so long. He probably would not remember half the lies that he had just invented later.

"Aw, that's so sweet! Naruto, you dog!" Ino said happily and smacked her friend on his arm. They both laughed, she took a step away from him, and looked at his face. "I can't wait to meet her and see what she looks like."

"Yes, what _does_ she look like, Naruto?" Sakura asked, still unconvinced. She maintained her suspicious gaze; regardless of what he said, there was no way that she would believe him. It was not difficult to invent a person and a story, as long as one was imaginative. She could not wait for the party. But then again, it was unlike him to bluff.

"Black hair, blue eyes," Naruto said simply, hoping that answer would satisfy their curiosity. It seemed to subdue their inquisitiveness. He could tell from their expressions that they all had their own opinions about him having a date of which no one had ever heard. Sakura looked like she was in the midst of chanting that Naruto was a liar in her mind. Ino seemed to be the most excited for him, eager to meet 'Satari-chan'. Gaara, he really could not tell, but he seemed convinced and content enough.

And Neji…"Sounds like a catch," he commented, staring at him with those dubious, white eyes. Naruto knew that Neji was not to be underestimated; he was the most perceptive of them all. He would be sure to keep a watchful eye on him at the party and he was definitely going to warn Sasuke about him. "I can't wait to meet Satari," he said, smirking at Naruto. _Curb your enthusiasm there, Nej_. Naruto tried to smile as convincingly as he could.

"Yeah, she can't wait to meet you guys, too." Though, by the look of it, Neji seemed to be quite aware that all of them had already met the mystery girl.

* * *

Naruto struggled with the bags that he held in his arms and dragged himself down the hallway toward Sasuke's room. He stopped in front of the door, dropped the bags, and tried to catch his breath. He had no idea that shopping for 'Satari-chan's' things would be so exhausting. It had been frightening enough walking into feminine stores and even more so when girls that he did not recognize had approached him, screeching and weeping. Naruto could not understand anything that they were saying (more so, shrieking in between sobs), but he did catch a few phrases like 'How could you?', 'After all we've been through!', 'Who's this Satari bitch?', and so on. He came to the conclusion that word got around that he had a date to the party. He wondered who must have told every girl on campus. It could have been Ino, since she had such a large mouth and everyone depended on her for the latest gossip, but she did respect his privacy to some extent. It could have also been Sakura, in an effort to attain revenge on him in another strange manner.

The point was that he felt fatigued from his shopping expedition. Not to mention, he hated to see anyone cry and it had made him feel somewhat guilty and incredibly uneasy, even though he had not done anything wrong. But being bombarded with sobbing females every time he walked into a store could bother him eventually. He turned to the door; he did not feel like raising his hand to knock on it and he was not in the mood to break and enter either.

"What the hell happened to you?" Sasuke asked, wearing his usual expressionless face. Naruto looked up, somewhat surprised, since he had not even noticed that his friend had opened the door. He was relieved when he saw Sasuke, but he just grunted in response. The whiskered-boy dragged himself into the dorm room and tossed the bags onto a chair, then collapsed onto his friend's bed. He buried his face in the pillow and sighed loudly.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, walking to the edge of the bed. Naruto did not move and kept his face hidden in the pillow. Sasuke continued to stare down at him, growing somewhat impatient. He was always provoked much more easily when he was around Naruto. "Dobe," he said, his voice demanding.

"Girly shit. Screeching females. Ugh," Naruto managed to say, finally lifting his head from the pillow. Before he could lift the rest of himself off of the bed, his head suddenly felt heavy and it fell back onto the pillow, only he was facing Sasuke this time. Through his bangs he looked up at him with pleading cerulean eyes.

Sasuke sighed, turning his head slightly so that he was not looking at Naruto. "Did you at least get what you went there for?" He asked, walking towards the bags on the chair. He began to search through them and pulled out a shining midnight-sky colored dress. He glared at it, imagining himself in it. Mental scarring ensued.

"Yes. I hope you like the dress I got you. I think it goes with your eyes," Naruto teased, suddenly looking less tired. He sat up from the bed and stretched, then jumped up and sauntered over to his friend. He rested his hand on Sasuke's shoulder as he peered over it. He watched his friend look at the dress with a weird expression on his face and neatly place it on the arm rest.

"I absolutely love it," he said flatly, then continued to dig through the bag.

"I knew you would," Naruto said, chuckling, a broad smile lighting his face. Naruto watched his friend pull out multiple things, most of which he immediately let go of and dropped it back into the bag. Cosmetics, contacts, more cosmetics, and feminine objects that Sasuke would rather not mention were inside the shopping bags. Sasuke could hear his friend's low snickering in his ear.

"Naruto, what kind of stores did you go to?" Sasuke asked with a slight glare on his face. He turned around to face his friend, so Naruto took his hand off of his shoulder and took a few steps back. Sasuke stared at him hard and Naruto simply shrugged, as if it was nothing to worry about.

"You know, the usual. The contacts place, Sephora, Giorgio Armani, and some inappropriate for your gender stores," he said coolly, dismissing it. Sasuke just stared at him weirdly and an impish grin formed on Naruto's face. He ran a hand through his golden locks, and then laughed. "I mean, why did you think I ran into so many girls? I was kinda on their territory."

Sasuke remained silent, the image of the tall, tanned, and toned blond strolling into a pink and girlish store replaying over and over again in his mind. He scoffed at the idea and stifled a laugh. "Weren't any questions raised?" He asked, raising one black eyebrow with a mocking look. Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Duh. I just told the suspicious chicks I was shopping for gifts for my girlfriend. They looked pretty disappointed," Naruto said, gesticulating as he spoke. He grinned mischievously, his cerulean eyes flashing. "Which you are supposed to be at the moment. Isn't that right, Satari-chan?" He purred seductively as he circled his friend, grinning foxily.

He was hit in the head with something heavy and fell backwards, surprised. Naruto felt his back hit the floor, opened his eyes that were formerly shut tight, and turned to his side, feeling light-headed. He blinked stupidly a few times, seeing Sasuke standing near him with a superior smirk on his face, a very large book in hand. "You should be more careful, dobe," he said superciliously.

"Damned bastard. What the hell did you hit me with, anyway?" Naruto demanded, glaring at him. He touched the spot on his head where he was hit gently and winced, a variety of profanities following. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him up, helping him into a sitting position. He sat down beside him and waved a book with a black and yellow cover in his friend's face. Naruto quickly snatched it with an angry pout on his face, and then turned his attention to the book to inspect it.

"Oh. This is the book I bought," Naruto said with realization. "Lady-like for Dummies," he read aloud, opening the new book to the first page and reading the first few sentences. "I guess you should read this, huh?" Naruto said, his eyebrows raised and a triumphant smirk on his face. Sasuke growled at him and swiped the book from his hand, skimmed through the first few pages, then set it aside neatly on his night table.

"Later," he insisted. "Besides, I already have the proper manners, if that's what you mean. I was raised just like any other rich kid. I know how to act perfectly polite," Sasuke said, folding his arms tightly across his chest.

"Hmm, really? I'm surprised," Naruto chirped, "you don't act like you know so." He immediately ducked, dodging any projectile that Sasuke would probably throw at him, knowing him. As predicted, the book went soaring over his head and hit the wall behind him. Naruto straightened himself and placed his arms out in front of himself defensively.

"Fine, fine, I believe you. God, you need anger management," Naruto muttered, saying the last sentence under his breath.

"I heard that, dobe."

"Whatever! It's true!" Naruto shouted insistently, becoming angered. Sasuke just smirked at him, his eyebrows raised. "Fuck you," Naruto cursed, making sure to never let his anger get the best of him again in Sasuke's presence. Actually, he realized, that was essentially the only time that he had such a short temper.

He sighed and decided to continue. "Anyway, what I meant was other things you need to practice to make yourself seem more like a female. I didn't mean to offend you and your perfect rich-boy manners," Naruto said sarcastically, dodging yet another flying object. "But seriously, you can't settle for just looking like a girl. You have to act like one." Naruto ignored Sasuke's glower and resumed talking. "What I mean is the walking-in-high-heels thing and your voice and other things like that."

"You mean like this?" Sasuke asked, his voice going up an octave or so, making it sound higher and more feminine. Naruto stared at him incredulously, a hint of a smile evident on his face. He laughed warmly, his smile reaching his eyes. "What the fuck. Now that's convenient, isn't it? I could never get my voice to go that high. It's weird an' shit how you can do that so well, but still convenient," he said, still smiling, a satisfied look settling onto his face. Sasuke glared, as usual, but he was right about him not being able to sound somewhat girly. Naruto's voice was too low for that to be possible. In a way, Sasuke's ability to do so could be seen as weird.

Hell, putting on cosmetics and a dress, strutting around in high-heels, and taking lessons on how to be a proper lady was weird enough on its own. Why did he even agree to this? It made Sasuke angry to know that even still, he did not regret it, and probably would have made the same decision all over again. _The things I do to make you happy, Naruto._

"Sure, whatever, I suppose I have to learn to walk like a lady too, and balance in those high heels?" Sasuke asked, gesturing towards a pair of shoes in one of the bags that Naruto had brought. Naruto laughed at the idea and nodded his head, confirming that he had to do so. He glanced at the digital clock on Sasuke's night table and decided that it was the time that he should be leaving.

"I've got to go now, Sasuke. I'll leave you to practice with those high heels. It's not like you'd need me to be here, I'm just a clumsy idiot. Besides, with your grace it should be easy," Naruto said, laughing lightly. He started walking towards the door and waved goodbye to his friend. Sasuke just waved back, staring at him with a strange expression on his face. Did Naruto just give him a compliment with a straight face? And holy shit, the dobe seemed like he meant it. Since when did he pay attention to Sasuke so much that he noticed the grace with which he moved?

"Yes...I suppose it would be," he said, staring down at the blue carpet. He looked up and met Naruto's eyes. "See you later, dobe. I'll stop by if I need any help with this girl-shit." Naruto grinned, amused that Sasuke could say that and remain poker-faced.

"I highly doubt you'll need help, though. Hell, you can drop by later if you just feel like it," he offered, though he was skeptical that that would ever happen. "Besides, I have an important phone call to make," Naruto announced, catching Sasuke's attention.

"Who are you going to call?" He asked, no hint of curiosity in his voice. But really, he did want to know.

"Just an old friend that owes me a favor."

* * *

Naruto took one last look at himself in the mirror and nervously pulled at the collar of his tuxedo. He was uncomfortable, nervous, could not sit still for more than five seconds (which was less than usual), could not keep his eyes off his phone (time seemed to be dragging on and on), and no matter how many times he fixed himself, he just did not look right. Damn formal parties with their itchy tuxes and neck-choking ties.

He yanked at the black tie around his neck, unsure if he had tied the knot correctly. Damn, there could have been someone around to teach him these kinds of things. Naruto had wanted to wear an orange tie, since he looked way too serious (which we all know cannot be good) in just black and white, but Sasuke had threatened him if he even dared to do so. He said it would not match his dress and that there was no fucking way that it would ever match anyone's dress. He thought Sasuke was wrong, because someone in the universe had to wear an orange dress eventually.

This was the last chance he would have to get ready, even if the party was still a few hours away. They had to get ready early since Naruto had an old friend stopping by to help them out to make 'Satari-chan's' girl disguise more convincing. The reason why? Like any of them could effectively apply cosmetics on someone. They would probably over apply the lipstick and eye shadow or something like that, making Naruto's so-called date look like a whore. Or maybe they would just poke Sasuke repeatedly in the eye with the eyeliner pencil, or apply so much that it was more than the average goth queen would use. Only girls knew these kinds of things, therefore to prevent anyone from becoming hurt (or looking like a hooker), he had asked a girl to do the job. Tenten was supposed to meet Naruto and 'Satari' at 'her' dorm, where he would somehow explain the situation.

Naruto knew that it would all work out, since Tenten was a very understanding person. He hoped so, at least. Maybe she would just laugh, rather than run away, scared. He knew her well enough, though, to know that she would not do the latter. After all, she did owe him from a couple of times back in junior high. Now it was time for her to repay her debt.

Naruto stared at his reflection, sighing and deciding that he would go as he currently was. His tuxedo was brand-spankin'-new, crisp, and clean (not to mention stiff, uncomfortable, and highly expensive), but it looked very out of place on him. His black shoes were shined to perfection, but they made him feel like he was going to trip and fall any second. His face was shaved and washed, his blue eyes bright and his whisker-tattoos prominent. Hell, he had even bothered to brush his hair, so it looked less unkempt and messy than usual and fell nicely against his face, but blond strands kept on popping out of nowhere and got into his eyes every five seconds.

Nothing seemed to be working the way that he wanted.

The fact that it would take so much to pull tonight off did not help his anxiety either. It made it all the worse, actually. It would have been much, much easier to have gone with a random, nice, pretty girl that he met one day while cruising around, just like how he met 'Satari'. Even through all this nervousness, he was extremely excited.

Sasuke was his date to the party.

Naruto was feeling a bit more content now, grabbed a bouquet of roses that he had bought, and strolled out the door of his dorm. He quickly made his way to Sasuke's room, knocked on the door, and his friend was there to answer it in a second. Sasuke swung the door open and the first thing that Naruto saw was a pair of blue eyes regarding him coolly.

"You're early, for once," Sasuke said in his usual monotone, trying to ignore the fact that Naruto was staring at him with wide eyes and appeared to have something behind his back. Sasuke was in the sparkling midnight dress and the black high heels already, blue contacts in place. Already, even without the cosmetics, he looked like a girl; a drop dead sexy girl, to be precise. Right then, Naruto was reassured about all of this and he no longer thought that anyone would really recognize Sasuke. But then again, he was somewhat distracted.

"You look damn good," Naruto said, just a little too quickly. He coughed, a light blush tinting his cheeks. He grinned sheepishly, pulled the flowers out from behind his back, and gently handed them to Sasuke. He just stared at them, surprised that Naruto had gotten him flowers, even if it was slightly odd. Flowers, though, were not really Sasuke's thing, but it was still a very nice gesture. It was thoughtful, in a screwed-up and twisted way. He could not help it; the corner of his lips twitched into a small smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Naruto said, smiling brightly at him. His blue eyes darted to his friend again. "Oh, and I see you wore the strapless-"

"Yes. I did," Sasuke said, cutting Naruto off before he could say anything more. He pulled Naruto into his dormitory, shut the door, and put the flowers on his night table. "Thank you for the...compliment before," he said, using the girly voice that he would be using for the rest of the night. Naruto stifled a laugh, surprise showing through his features.

"Holy shit, Sasuke. This is a little too believable for your own good. Keep this up and you're gonna get raped," Naruto said, pulling a chair from the dorm into the bathroom and placing it in front of the mirror. He yanked on Sasuke's bare, pale arm and made him sit down in it. He did not look at his friend directly, but at his reflection instead. He had on the Uchiha Death Glare, as always. "Hey, no glaring at the party. You need to act nice."

"Even to the cotton-candy haired bitch?"

Naruto sighed at the name he used, immediately knowing who he was talking about. Who else in the world had 'cotton-candy' hair, anyway? He gave the top of Sasuke's head a small pat. "Yes, even to Sakura. Oh, and stay away from Neji. He's really perceptive."

"And I'm really careful. Dobe, do you seriously think that I'd go to a party dressed as a fucking girl without being constantly on guard?" Sasuke asked, slightly angered, and glared at Naruto's reflection in the mirror.

"No need to be all pissy about it," Naruto mumbled, pouting. "You don't have to be paranoid the whole night, either, Sasuke."

"Wouldn't that be for the best, considering your reputation is at stake here?" Sasuke said, crossing his arms. He mumbled a few curses at the unfamiliar weight that was now on his chest. Naruto sighed, and leant against the chair in which Sasuke was sitting. He was not sure if he cared about that any more. With a reputation, so much was always expected of him. He would rather throw all that crap out the window, take whoever the hell he wanted to the party, and his choice just happened to be his male best friend.

"I don't care," Naruto said finally, exhaling heavily. He saw the look on Sasuke's face, smiled to himself, and laughed softly. It suddenly became quiet as they both stared at each other through the mirror. Naruto suddenly remembered something, dashed into the room, and returned with a roll of tape. He grinned at Sasuke mischievously.

"What is that for?" Sasuke asked, noting the look on Naruto's face. He tossed it over to Sasuke and he caught it, and then turned to stare at his friend with a questioning look.

"I can't believe I almost forgot about the tape! You know what to do with it, right? Or if not...I can always do it for you..." Naruto said, grinning seductively, throwing in a suggestive wink. Sasuke stood frozen and stared at the tape in his hands, and then lifted his head to glare at Naruto.

"No. That's okay," he managed to say. He went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. "If you open this door while I'm in here, you die," he warned from inside the room, his voice sounding muffled through the wall.

"Too bad, it would've been fun. What, did you think I wouldn't guarantee a good time?" Naruto laughed and heard Sasuke scoff from inside of the bathroom.

He stood in the center of the room, glancing at the things in Sasuke's dorm, feeling much calmer now. A few minutes passed and he could hear the noises of Sasuke struggling with the tape in the bathroom. Naruto laughed to himself and started to walk around the room with boredom. He decided that it would be best if he retrieved a surfing magazine and his iPod while he was waiting for Sasuke to finish with the tape and for Tenten to arrive. He opened the door and left it that way, idly stepping out into the hallway, crashing into someone.

Naruto blinked and lifted his head to see who he had crashed into. There stood a girl about his age, recovering from the collision. She had her chocolate brown hair up in two quick, messy buns and she wore a pink, silk Chinese shirt, green capris, and a pair of flip-flops. She held a piece of paper in her hands on which a room number was scrawled. His face immediately lit up as recognized the girl.

She shook her head, her bangs flying away from her eyes. "Hey! Watch where you're going, asshole!" She shouted, glaring at him. Naruto simply just smirked at her, until she blinked with realization and mentally slapped herself for her stupidity.

"Naruto! It's you! I haven't seen you in forever. It's a shame that we don't take any classes together. Anyway, you told me to come here, because you needed a favor? I can't really stay so long since I have to get ready for the party myself," Tenten said, letting herself into the dorm that Naruto had just exited. She observed her surroundings, her eyebrows knitting as she did so.

"Yeah, long time no see," Naruto said, following her. "Anyway, you remember I told you about doing my date's make-up for the party?" He asked, reminding her. She nodded, still looking around. He tried to think of a way to blatantly say that his date was his best friend in drag, but he could not think of any way to say it that did not make it sound totally insane, weird, and gay. He decided that somehow, he would just imply it and let Tenten come to her own conclusions.

"Yeah, where is she?" She asked, pulling many different cosmetics out of the bag that was filled with the ones that Naruto had bought. "I understand that you wanted me to do her make-up instead of any other random lady, since after all, I am the expert," Tenten said, smiling proudly.

"Oh, he's in the bathroom, with the, uh, tape," he said, jabbing his thumb behind him in the direction of the said room. Her brown eyes widened, not missing the 'he' in the sentence, instead of the word 'she'. She cocked an eyebrow at him in question, wondering if he really meant to say that, or if he was just confusing his pronouns.

The door opened and Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom, placing the tape onto his desk. He had taken a few steps before he had noticed Tenten standing in the middle of the room, staring at him weirdly, as if she could not tell if he was male or female. Well, at least his girl-disguise was working well enough in bright light and without any cosmetics. He glanced at Naruto with his now blue eyes and the blond elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hi, I'm Naruto's date, Sasuke," he greeted dully, using his normal, masculine voice when he spoke. Naruto smiled sheepishly and Tenten kept on looking between each of their faces, seeming confused and like she might just burst out laughing at any second. Oh, this was indeed priceless.

"Okay...sort of strange, I have to say but...one question. Is he-she-it-whatever really your date? This is Satari?" She asked, staring at them skeptically, the corner of her lips tilting upwards into a barely concealed smile. Sasuke growled at Tenten and glared at her angrily. Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke's exposed shoulder in a calming gesture and to hold him back in case he decided to attack.

"Well, um, technically. It's a really long story, but I can give you the basics. I didn't have any one to take, and I'm not going to take any random girl, so you know...Why not?" Naruto shrugged, giving Tenten an innocent look. She smirked and laughed, nodding her head and accepting his explanation.

"I'll never understand how exactly you think, Naruto, but sure...makes enough sense to me," she said, shrugging. She glanced at Sasuke, taking in his dress and appearance, picking cosmetics that she thought would go well with his complexion. She grasped a hairbrush firmly in her hand and grinned roguishly at Sasuke. "So, it's time to begin. Take him into the bathroom, will you, Naruto?" She asked, flashing him a toothy grin.

"Sure, no problem," he said obediently, grabbed Sasuke's pale arm, and dragged him into the bathroom. He made him sit down in the chair, and then grinned impishly at him, and as he expected, he received a glower in return.

"If you leave me alone with that maniac, I will rip off your-"

"That won't be necessary, and I happen to be very fond of that part of my body. I'd prefer if it wasn't ripped and burned or whatever you were planning," he interjected, laughing nervously. Sasuke's now-blue eyes flashed at him, a smug look on his face. It fell, though, as soon as he saw that Naruto was walking out of the bathroom. "But...I'll be back later...I'm just going to go grab my iPod and something to read. I need something to keep myself occupied," he said and disappeared behind the wall with a wink.

He heard Tenten and Naruto's conversing voices, but he could not understand what they were saying. He kept his gaze directly ahead and he heard the clacking of flip-flops as they approached him. Tenten put the bag on the counter and spread out the things that she planned to use. She picked up a brush and started to run it through his hair, trying to make it go down rather than stick up, so he would look more like a girl. Sasuke winced. Did she have any idea how long it took him to get his hair like that and still have it be soft?

"So," she started with a grunt, trying to brush out a knot that she had come across. "You're Naruto's date, huh?" He could tell that she was trying to strike a conversation with him in order to keep it from being completely awkward the entire time that Naruto was gone.

"Apparently," he deadpanned, allowing no room for a conversation.

She, though, was persistent to keep their discussion alive. "I wonder why he chose you. I don't fully understand it myself." She finished with his hair and he stared at himself in the mirror, a frown on his face. His hair in the back now fell a little past his chin, like his hair in the front, except choppier. Sasuke heard Tenten murmur something about 'stupid duck asses' under her breath.

"Neither do I," he admitted, sighing inwardly. "If you're so curious, why don't you just ask him yourself?" He suggested pretentiously, coughing as she sprayed his hair with spray to hold it in place. Tenten may have 'accidentally' sprayed some in his eyes, since he was being such a little snobby bastard when he answered her questions.

"Maybe I will," she said, frowning slightly at him. She put the can of hairspray down and picked up a small brush intended to put on cosmetics, dabbed it in some skin-colored powder, and began to lightly dust it across his face. After a few seconds of silence, Tenten could not bear to keep her mouth shut any longer. "What I'm really wondering is, why did you say yes? I know I just met you, but I don't peg you as the type," she said, switching to some blush.

Sasuke remained quiet and resisted the strong urge to wipe the cosmetics off of his face and push Tenten away. "I don't know why," he said quietly, half-telling the truth. He knew it was because of that feeling he had whenever Naruto was around him, but he did not know what was causing it. Maybe it was those smiles that made his heart rate increase? If that was it, it was not as if he would reveal that to her.

"I know one thing for sure. He likes you, Sasuke, and as more than a friend," Tenten said with a smile on her face. His eyes briefly widened, his heart starting beating faster at these words, and heat was building up on his face. At least it was mostly unnoticeable, since he was wearing blush. That was one thing for which he was thankful.

"Do you like him?" She whispered.

Sasuke's heart was still pumping fast, but he merely glanced down at the midnight-colored gown that he was wearing. Did he like Naruto? Did Naruto like him? He did not say anything in response and he was glad when Naruto came running noisily through the door, messing up his previously fixed hair, but not seeming to care at all.

He told them that it had took him an eternity to find the magazines, since he had forgotten where he had stashed them, and that he had to practically turn his whole dorm upside down in order to find them. Naruto made himself comfortable by sitting on the toilet seat, sticking his iPod headphones into his ears, turning on some music, and starting to browse through his magazine. He did notice, though, that Tenten seemed to be scrutinizing him. Actually, she was watching both Naruto and Sasuke rather carefully, a knowing expression on her face as she worked on Sasuke's make-up.

For a second, Naruto's heart sped up and he clenched his magazine somewhat tighter, wondering what that look was about. He felt nervous now, so he raised the volume on his iPod until he could no longer hear his thoughts. That did not stop them from coming, of course. There was something wrong and it was making him uncomfortable. His blue eyes darted up and he stared at Sasuke's reflection in the mirror, a small smile appearing on his face.

This did not go unnoticed by Tenten.

A small smile appeared on her own face. They did not need to worry. Their secret was safe with her, even if they did not yet know that they shared that certain secret.

"All done," she announced, giving Sasuke's hair one last fluff. This caught Naruto's attention; he looked up from his magazine and rubbed his eyes tiredly, then blinked a few times. He took one look at his friend and grinned broadly. He jumped up, turning off his iPod and abandoning the surfing magazine, and then quickly walked over to Tenten.

"Wow." That was the only thing that he could muster. Sasuke glared, staring at his reflection oddly. He really did look like a female and nothing like his former self. This was so screwed up in so many different ways. Naruto leaned on the chair, his arms resting on the back of it, a waft of his cologne drifting past Sasuke's nose. "Sasuke, you look amazing," he said, looking at him. Sasuke turned his attention away quickly, a blush forming on his face.

"You did a great job, Tenten. Thank you so much," Naruto said, a cheery smile on his face. She smiled and gave him a pat on his arm.

"No problem. Now we can call ourselves even, after all the times you saved my ass in junior high," she said, grinning. Tenten collected all the make-up and tossed it in the bag. She glanced at Sasuke, but then turned around to face Naruto again. "Good luck!" She said happily, her brown eyes glittering. She did not think that Naruto understood that she was not talking about the party itself. "I'll see you tonight, Naruto. Bye, Sasuke. Keep in mind what I said," Tenten chirped, and left in a matter of seconds.

Naruto turned towards Sasuke, a questioning expression on his face, one blond eyebrow raised. Sasuke turned his body, glanced at him, and sighed, averting his eyes from Naruto's gaze. Naruto frowned and nervously ran his fingers through his bangs, brushing them away from his brilliant, blue eyes. Both of them could already tell that this was going to be a long night.

* * *

A/N): Er...well...what did you guys think? Um...I'm sure I'll get several different kinds of opinions and reactions and what not...so, that means I'm expecting a lot of feedback. Also, I hope that Tenten was in character, whatever he character is.

For the meantime...

Authoress_(runs like hell)_: AHHH! GODDAMMIT! _(getting impeded by rocks of various sizes)_  
Readers_(chasing her in a mob, with pitchforks, fire, and duh, throwing rocks)_: COME ON, GET HER! She won't get away with this!  
Sasuke_(leading the mob)_: Come on everyone! FASTER! We can not rest until she DIES!  
Authoress_(stops running)_: Sasuke? Why the hell are _you _here? I wasn't with Naruto from three to six last night! _(is nervous)  
_Sasuke: You put me in a fuckin dress! I look like a _fucking female. _I'm practically in drag! Why do you_ think_ I'm here? And what was that you said about being with Naruto?  
Authoress _(sweatdrops, and looks about not-so-subtly for a possible escape route)_: Nothing, nothing, you heard nothing! I said nothing at all that may have possibly had to do with Naruto-kun, or anything to do with three to six last night. I'll just be, you know…leav-OW! _(gets hit with increasingly large rocks, thrown by Sasuke) _That hurt like a _bitch. _Screw this, I'm crawling back into my hole in the ground!  
Sasuke _(to readers): _If you ever want that bitch to get out of there, I suggest that you drop a review.  
Readers: SCREW THAT! Let's FORCE her outta there! _(battle cry)_


	12. Like You Mean It

This is my favorite chapter of _Smile_, and this ones for everyone! Anyone who ever reviewed, even if it was just once, read smile, or even just glanced at the page before hitting the back button, its dedicated to all of you! Thank you so much for your support so far!

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own Naruto and I never will, okay! GOSH! If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfiction (okay...yeah probably) But I'd change Naruto into a shounen-ai show. (wink)

_Warnings: _NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, profanities, freakishly long chapters, underage drinking/alcohol use, Smashed!Ino, SUS-PI-CIOUS!NejiAndSakura, and the mention of little side pairings.

_ Remember NaruSasu plus reviews equals happycrack._

* * *

**CHAPTER TWELVE: LIKE YOU MEAN IT**

Naruto turned the steering wheel, driving one-handed. His other arm was somewhat occupied, placed behind the headrest of Sasuke's seat. They were driving in a comfortable silence towards the center of the city, where the Konoha City Town Hall was located. It was serving as the site for the largest party that the city would ever see. Sasuke felt a hand lightly dance across his shoulder, sending shivers up and down his spine. He turned to look at the blond sitting beside him, but he was staring ahead, a peaceful expression on his face.

Naruto's hand moved so that it was resting on Sasuke's now clothed shoulder (The dobe had insisted that he wear a jacket, since it was cold outside) and warmth traveled down from his skin to that of Sasuke. He turned to look at Naruto again, but he was still staring at the road. After a few moments, he finally turned his head, his messy hair falling into his cerulean eyes, smirking.

Sasuke swallowed and turned his head to look forward, trying to ignore the arm that was almost fully around his shoulders. At the same time, he was trying to keep himself from settling against it.

They arrived at the center of the city, where long lines of cars were parked on the sides of the road. Naruto searched for a spot to park his car that would not make it difficult to back out later, therefore saving him from crashing into someone's bumper. He found a spot and turned his car off, tossing the keys into his pocket. Sasuke did not move, unsure if he should with Naruto's arm practically on his shoulder. He sat stiffly and did not even notice that Naruto had exited the car.

Naruto opened Sasuke's door and extended his arm, smiling gently as he did so. Sasuke stared at it before hesitantly placing his pale hand into Naruto's tanned one. This was all so very weird. He helped him out of the car and shut the door for him. Sasuke just stared ahead, unaware that Naruto had abandoned his hand and had wrapped an arm around his waist instead, holding the present for Tsunade in his other arm.

He was acting like they were a couple, or like they were on a date. Which Sasuke just seemed to fully realize, they were on one. In order to deceive everyone, they would not only have to look like the typical boy-girl couple, they would also have to act like it.

_Oh, shit_.

"Ready to go?" Naruto asked, still smiling. Sasuke barely nodded in response and Naruto laughed quietly. They walked down the sidewalk toward the party, even if it was more like Naruto had to pull Sasuke along rather than let him walk himself. "Remember, you have to be nice and polite in order for us to pull this off, but that doesn't mean we can't have a good time," he said, grinning. They slowed their pace to a near halt as Naruto stared up at the streetlight that they stood beneath. It shined brightly on the two of them. He looked past the resplendent light, staring at the dark sky that Sasuke's dress seemed to mimic instead.

"After all, you are my date," he said in a barely audible whisper. Sasuke tilted his head upwards in order to scrutinize Naruto's face, but he found that he was still unable to decipher the thoughts that pervaded Naruto's mind. He was far from an open book. They had walked in silence for several minutes before Naruto finally looked up, a warm smile brightening his face.

"Oh, and I almost forgot. You are my beautiful date, Satari, not my best friend, Sasuke Uchiha. So, don't be surprised if someone calls you by that name. If they ask your surname, just make one up," he finished. He frowned slightly when he noticed that Sasuke was staring into the dark alleys that they passed as they walked instead of paying attention to what he was saying. "Got it?" He asked. They halted directly in front of the town hall.

"Yes. Now...let's go," Sasuke said, staring at the prodigious building that suddenly looked intimidating. He maintained his usual expression, not smiling nor frowning.

* * *

Bright yellow light shined through the large one-story-long windows. The people inside were clearly visible as they chatted and sipped champagne. All the men were clad in tuxedos (of course, excluding one) and all the women wore extravagant dresses. A few danced slowly to the sound of light music that emitted from the building. Inside, there was a high stack of presents for the mayor of Konoha City that grew as each group added their own to it. There was a constant cluster of people outside as cars dropped them off incessantly. Couples walked towards the enormous, open front entrance in the same manner that Naruto was holding Sasuke.

The pair entered the building, giving the greeter who stood by the door their coats. They were shoved further inside due to the impatient crowd that tried to push past them in order to enter the building. Sasuke blinked his false blue eyes and froze. They were in bright light, which would be sure to help them a great deal. No one seemed to notice them, though, since they were just two people in a crowd of hundreds. Naruto continued to lead Sasuke along, searching for an area that was not crammed with people.

"Okay," Naruto said, exhaling and running a hand through his hair. "You stay here for a second, all right? I'm just going to go get some champagne. Be right back Sas-er, Satari!" Naruto said cheerfully, leaving him with the present. He waved goodbye and strolled into the crowd, disappearing into the mass of people. Sasuke waved back; he was standing awkwardly near the wall, so he decided to look for a seat. At the very least, he was grateful that this party seemed to be refined and civilized, instead of resembling a drunken-and-stoned rave.

He found a vacant seat and sat down in it, crossing his legs, since he figured that was how most females sat. People had begun to take notice of his presence; girls and boys that he recognized from school were staring at him. Thankfully, it appeared as if they did not recognize him in return. The girls stared with curiosity or jealously, while the boys…Sasuke preferred to ignore the looks that they were giving him entirely.

"Whose date is that?" He heard a conversation that was taking place not far from him. The speakers did not seem to care that everyone around them could hear their chatter.

"I don't know. Maybe she came alone?" One of the girls suggested, staring directly at Sasuke.

"No, the bitch is too pretty for that."

"Yeah, she probably thinks she's so pretty that she doesn't even need a date. She came here to steal all our dates," another girl accused, disdain evident in her voice.

"Or maybe she thought all our dates weren't good-looking enough for her...I mean, the only guy that could probably meet her high standards is..." The girl that was speaking trailed off, staring at her friends with wide eyes. They looked back at her with equally large eyes, and then they all turned to stare at Sasuke incredulously. Screw being polite, he glared at them harshly. He was satisfied with the frightened looks on their faces, but that did not keep them from talking.

"Oh my fucking god! That's probably Naruto's date! She's that Satari bitch we've been hearing about!" They announced loudly, resulting in more heads turning to look in his direction. _Bitches_. From the start, he had known that it was going to be a long night.

* * *

Across the room stood Naruto as he held two glasses of champagne and attempted to balance one in each hand without spilling it all over himself. He was receiving looks from people as well, including girls who flirted with him while standing beside their dates. Some of the liquid spilt over the brims of the glasses and onto the formerly-clean floor as he sighed and shook his head. He glanced at the spill while he tried to think of a way to return to Sasuke without walking through the crowd in the center of the room.

Naruto started to walk around the crowd, taking the long way around it. That was when he saw a flash of white-blonde hair and he knew that there was a girl with unmistakably pink hair trailing after her. Ino and Sakura approached him, both smiling. Ino's looked somewhat alcohol-induced, but still genuine, and Sakura's looked forced. Ino grabbed one of the champagne glasses that he was holding and chugged it before he could greet her.

Naruto stared at his now empty hand, and then looked up at the two girls. "Um, hey guys," he said. He stared at Ino weirdly, and then turned to look at Sakura. She gave him that same smile, though this time it did not look as strained. "Ino...are you okay? How many drinks have you had?" He asked her, watching as she snatched another glass from a tray that a server was carrying.

"Only a couple," she said, smiling brightly. At least she was not yet slurring when she spoke. "My stupid dad is still off in New York with his stupid business trip...I had to come to this stupid place with my stupid mom, Stacy. She is so embarrassing and _stupid_." Ino threw her head back and brought the glass to her lips, drinking it all at once.

"Okay..." Naruto said, staring at her with a mixture of concern and wariness. He knew how Ino became when it came to her absent father and her negligent mother that behaved like a teenager. "I was just getting some drinks for Satari and me before you two showed up," he told them, not failing to catch the gleam of interest that appeared in Sakura's emerald eyes.

"Oh, you have to introduce us, Naruto," she said somewhat menacingly and smiled harder. "Ino and I..." She started, but when they turned to look at where Ino had previously been, she was nowhere in sight. "Well...just me, I guess, but I've been dying to meet her." She smiled again, placing her hands behind her back.

Naruto looked at her and quickly took a swig of his champagne. "Sure...I'll bring you to her, but first I need another glass..." He trailed off, seeing as Sakura seemed to have suddenly acquired a glass. After she placed it in his free hand, she smoothed her silken, red dress.

"Alright then, follow me..." Naruto said awkwardly, becoming stiff.

She skipped behind him with a haughty smirk on her face, her dress swaying in time with her steps. She probably thought that he was going to drag her around the entire building before saying something ridiculous, such as that his date must have left. He knew that she thought that he had not brought anyone. _Sorry to disappoint, but I have a date. _Though, that was not exactly what he was nervous about. She had seen Sasuke several times before, so he was worried that she would recognize him. Naruto had finished his champagne before they had reached where he had left Sasuke.

When they arrived, no one was there. Naruto's hand tightened around the empty glass that he was holding as he tried not to be frantic. His head whipped around in search of Sasuke, his blond hair flying as he did so. _Fuck_. Sakura had just opened her mouth to speak, wearing a smug expression, when Sasuke emerged from the crowd, dusting off his midnight gown.

Immediately, Naruto felt relieved. He practically ran over to Sasuke's side, but not before giving Sakura an exultant look. He put his arm around Sasuke, who still did not seem accustomed to physical contact, drew Sasuke close, and brought his lips to his ear. "Where were you?" He hissed.

"Where were _you_?" Sasuke demanded, glaring at his so-called date. "I went to go add our present for Tsunade to the pile."

Someone coughed, catching their attention. Naruto and Sasuke turned away from their whispering to see an awkward smile twitch onto Sakura's face. Naruto moved his hand to Sasuke's waist and gave it a small squeeze before he turned to face Sakura with a large grin. Sasuke, though, was not radiating confidence. Actually, he was just trying not to blush like a schoolgirl. _Damn Naruto, that dobe_. He was certain that Naruto was purposely making him blush.

"I'm Sakura Haruno, a _very_ good friend of Naruto's. Nice to meet you," she said cheerily, extending her hand for 'Satari' to shake. Sasuke just glanced at her outstretched hand, and then his eyes flickered to her face. He did not miss the implication in her words. If he had not already known the whole story, he might have actually been jealous. He was the one who had Naruto's hand resting on his waist, though, not her.

"I'm Satari, Naruto's _date_," he said politely, using his girl-voice. There was a hint of arrogance in 'her' voice. Sasuke shook hands with Sakura, his grip hard. She nodded her head and withdrew her hand, rubbing it with her other one as she giggled nervously.

Naruto turned to glare at Sasuke with a slight frown of disapproval. When he turned to face Sakura and saw the expression of her face, he almost laughed aloud. He had to admit that he did not mind his date's rudeness towards her that much after all.

"Well, I'm going to go look for my own date and my crazy drunken friend. I'm glad that we met, Satari," Sakura said, quickly coming up with an excuse to leave. Sasuke said nothing in response and merely looked at her with one eyebrow raised as he waited for her to depart. "Bye, Naruto..." She said in an overly sugar-coated voice, which they both knew was fake. After hastily waving goodbye, she stumbled into the crowd, almost tripping in the process.

"You could've been a lot nicer there, Satari, but then again, I'm not complaining," Naruto said, turning to face Sasuke with a large grin on his face. Sasuke rolled his eyes and sighed in response. He scanned the room and Naruto followed his gaze, unsure of what he was looking at. A change had taken place at the party; people had stopped arriving, the demand for more liquor was increasing, and half the people were beginning to look slightly intoxicated.

So much for a sophisticated and refined party.

"When is this party going to be over?" Sasuke asked, turning to look at Naruto. A small pensive frown appeared on Naruto's lips, but it quickly disappeared, being replaced with a grin. Sasuke stared at his date and the corners of his lips turned downward.

"Hey, we've only been here for a half an hour, and during that time I was lost in the crowd getting champagne and you were putting Tsunade's present away," he said. He placed the glass that had been forgotten in his hand into that of Sasuke. He had no interest in drinking, so he stared at it vacantly. "Besides, I haven't even gotten to spend time with you yet. I guarantee that you will have a good time, if you just give me a chance," Naruto said, smiling softly. He placed a finger under Sasuke's chin and tilted his head toward him.

Sasuke stared at Naruto, his eyes growing slightly wider. His light touch sent shivers throughout his body. Naruto linked arms with Sasuke. "Do you want to go to the buffet tables and get something to eat, Satari-chan?" He asked politely, acting like a real gentleman.

"S-sure...let's go." Sasuke said, and then cleared his throat. It seemed to become increasingly difficult to continue using his girl-voice. Naruto's sudden transformation into Prince Charming did not help either. Sasuke had not expected him to behave in this manner when he had asked Sasuke to accompany him to the party. Though, he had not been expecting anything in particular other than attending the party with Naruto.

They strolled arm in arm in the direction of the tables, receiving envious looks from couples as they did so. After crossing the large building, they arrived at an extremely long and narrow table that was draped with red cloth and littered with a variety of foods. They had to push a few people, but they eventually found two empty seats beside each other. Naruto let go of Sasuke's arm and pulled out a chair for him. A dazzling smile lit up his face.

Sasuke attempted to glare at him. It appeared to be working on the outside, but he felt like a blushing school girl inside. He sat down and tightly crossed his arms. He became engulfed in Naruto's scent once more since his cologne wafted through the air as he moved. Naruto sat beside him, started to grab items within his reach, and put them on his plate.

"Stop treating me like a girl, dobe," Sasuke murmured. He purposely used his normal, masculine voice. Naruto turned to look at him with a slight glare on his face.

He leaned over so he could whisper in Sasuke's ear. "Right now, you are pretending to be a girl, remember? And girl or boy, you are my date, and I intend to treat you like you are," he said underneath his breath. He spoke so quietly that Sasuke struggled to hear him over all the chatter and music in the building. He never knew that it was possible for Naruto, of all people, to speak so low. Naruto pulled away and glanced around to make sure that no one had overheard. When he concluded that nobody had heard, he continued to place food on his plate.

Sasuke looked at the food and decided that he did not have much of an appetite. He picked up his glass and drank some of the champagne, ignoring the horrible taste that it left in his mouth. Naruto was eyeing a cracker with weird little black berries on it when he noticed that someone had stopped directly in front of Sasuke and Naruto's chairs. When he looked up, he immediately smiled. Sasuke, though, did the exact opposite and frowned.

"Tenten! What's up?" Naruto greeted in his usual cheerful tone. Tenten laughed and lightly sipped her drink. Sasuke's annoyance was somewhat subdued by the fact that she was not yet drunk like the rest of the guests. He scoffed and leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms across his chest. Tenten had her hair loose, for once, and it fell in gentle waves, the ends of it brushing the back of her slim, emerald green dress.

"Haha. Hey, Naruto." She smiled, her eyes looking bright. "I'm just looking for Lee. You know how he gets when he gets his hands on alcohol..." She trailed off, leaving Naruto to fill in the blanks.

"Oh? I didn't know Lee was here," Naruto commented. He started to eat one of the crackers, even though he had no idea what the little, black, round things were. She grinned at him and firmly placed her hands on her hips.

"Yup. He's my date," she declared ostentatiously, smirking at the reaction that she knew was coming. Naruto's blue eyes widened and he nearly choked on the crackers and caviar that he was eating. Even that statement had captured Sasuke's attention. She had to be crazier than he had thought.

"You like _Lee_?" He asked skeptically, recovering from almost choking. "Shit, man. When did _this_ happen?"

"Calm down, Naruto. We're just going as friends," she said. She snatched a cracker off his plate and shoved it into her mouth. She finished chewing it and swallowed, then fell silent for a few seconds. "Besides...I like someone else…And well, so does Lee." Tenten ended with a laugh, quickly concealing the quiet voice with which she had begun to speak.

"Yeah, he's always had an obsessive thing for Sakura, hasn't he? I say he should go for it, I mean, she's been single for a while now," he suggested, smiling to himself.

"Unlike you?" She asked with a broad smirk on her face and her eyebrows raised. Her eyes darted to the 'girl' sitting beside Naruto. "Quite a catch you got there." She folded her hands behind her back, still smiling. Naruto was at a loss for words for a moment and he was certain that a slight blush had appeared on his face. He had been absolutely positive that Tenten did not know. He was not even sure if he knew exactly what he felt for Sasuke. Still, he had no idea that it was that obvious. He considered the possibility that she could have just been teasing him about deciding to bring a male to the party or maybe that she was maintaining the act that Naruto and 'Satari' were a couple since they were conversing in public. However, her eyes were glinting a too much for it to be either of those possibilities.

"Er...Thanks?" Naruto said unsurely, his statement coming out more like a question. The color on his cheeks receded and he scratched his whisker tattoos, a sheepish grin forming on his face. From the corner of his eye, he observed Sasuke's reaction. His face was equally red, and by the looks of it, he disliked being dragged into the conversation by a comment like that. Or perhaps, he disliked the comment itself. Naruto did not mind much, but that was just him.

"No problem," she said. Abruptly, Lee ran out of the crowd, a drunken look on his face. Naruto found it odd to see him in formal dress. He looked stranger than normal, darting about in something other than his usual green, spandex-like clothing.

"Lee! Get back here right now!" She shouted angrily, turning on her heels to face the direction in which he departed. Tenten turned to face them, grabbed as much crackers as she could hold in one hand, and hastily waved goodbye with the other. "I've got to go stop him, before he gets worse. See you later Naruto, Satari," she said hurriedly and began to chase after Lee. "Don't you dare touch that drink!"

Naruto turned to face Sasuke and laughed, and even the indifferent Uchiha cracked a small smile. Though, the cause of his smile was more so Naruto's light-hearted laughter than the slightly amusing scene that had just occurred. The laughter dissipated and left pleasant expressions on their faces. For a few more minutes, they snacked on the appetizers, until Naruto noticed a change in the music.

The light classical music had been replaced with modern music, though it was still pleasant. It had not yet turned into hip-hop songs with lyrics inspired by sex and rims. Slowly but surely, the party was turning into one that would end as the exact opposite of how it began. Naruto glanced over to where the musicians had been performing; they were now gone and replaced by a DJ booth, with none other than Gaara stationed in it. Ino stood a few feet away, her movements uncoordinated as she flirted with the musicians.

Naruto rolled his eyes. _Of course_.

He listened to the music and peered at Sasuke from the corner of his eye. Dressed as a female, he really did look beautiful, but he would have preferred the everyday, male Sasuke over the one beside him any day. Either way, it was still Sasuke, and Naruto wanted to ask him to dance.

Dancing together was expected of a couple, and they did come to the party as one. He wondered if it would be weird for him to ask. The usually brash and boisterous blond suddenly found himself lacking confidence. Naruto swallowed hard, leaned over, and after a moment of hesitation, tapped Sasuke's bare shoulder lightly.

"Hn?" Sasuke turned to him, raising one eyebrow. The lights in the building dimmed, resulting in the room becoming slightly darker, and couples flocked to the dance floor. The few brave souls who had come alone walked to the sides, occupying themselves by talking to a stranger or gulping alcohol. Naruto looked at Sasuke and tried to smile as brilliantly as he could.

"Sas-Satari, would you like to dance with me?" He asked, sounding somewhat insecure, despite his confident act. Sasuke's eyes widened. Naruto's hand was outstretched and he was looking at him with hopeful blue eyes. Sasuke sighed and placed his pale hand into Naruto's tan one. Naruto pulled him up gently and began to lead him to the center of the room.

"You don't have to do this, you know. People are convinced enough already," Sasuke mumbled as they weaved through the crowd of couples. He was staring at his hand being loosely held by Naruto's; he had to admit that he enjoyed the feeling. They walked past fellow students such as Shikamaru and Temari, Hinata and Kiba, and various others who were swaying to the sound of the music. 'Far Away' by Nickelback filled the building just as Naruto and Sasuke reached the very center of the dance floor.

"I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything," Naruto told him_. Though, I am trying to convince myself. _Somewhat hesitantly, he placed his hands around Sasuke's waist, waiting to be punched away at any second. He was somewhat surprised when nothing had happened. Sasuke felt awkward leaving his arms dangling at his sides, so he rested them on Naruto's shoulders and linked his hands together at the base of Naruto's neck. Naruto shivered at the feeling of Sasuke's hands on his neck.

Naruto pulled him closer and they began to sway to the music like everyone else. There was nowhere to look but the other's face, but it was not as awkward as Naruto would have thought. It felt natural, and to his surprise neither of them was blushing. He smiled softly at Sasuke, who returned the look. They continued to dance in the same fashion for the remainder of the song.

Throughout their dance, though, there was only one thought running through Naruto's mind.

_I want to kiss Sasuke_.

His blue eyes darted down to Sasuke's lips. He enjoyed seeing him smile. Naruto pulled him even closer, and Sasuke became entirely engulfed by his scent. His hands brushed the bottom of the blond's hair, finding it softer than he expected. In the dim light, Naruto's hair looked like pure gold, standing out against the dark clothing that he was wearing. He did not even notice that Naruto had pulled him closer so that their bodies were nearly touching.

Naruto could not help but notice how their faces were separated by a mere few inches. He moved one hand from Sasuke's waist to beneath his chin, his fingers lightly dancing across his neck. He tilted Sasuke's chin toward him and stared directly into his eyes, disappointed that he saw blue staring back at him, rather than black. All of Sasuke's thoughts halted; he did not dare to break eye contact with Naruto.

The song had nearly ended and Naruto was feeling confident enough the close the gap between them when a familiar voice chimed in, interrupting his thoughts.

"Hello there, Naruto and Satari," Sakura said brightly, her green eyes gleaming maliciously behind her innocent facade. Her smile looked so wide and forced it seemed as if it would falter any second, but the fact that she had successfully interrupted their romantic dance maintained it. Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at her and the two other people with her, Neji and Gaara. Neji was giving Sakura a disapproving look, but then turned his attention to 'Satari.' Gaara was being his usual self, looking handsome in his tux, and glancing from one face to another, waiting for the scene to play out as he predicted.

Slowly, Naruto and Sasuke's hands fell awkwardly to their sides. Naruto felt as if he had just been walked in on, even if they were in plain sight and in one of the most public buildings in the entire city. Sakura's smile twitched and she nervously tugged on her curled, pink hair.

"I'm so sorry, did I, um, interrupt something?" She continued to tug on her hair as she apologized. "I just thought that Gaara and Neji should be properly introduced to your date, Naruto." Sakura gestured to the two boys behind her. Neji flashed a small smile, his strange eyes looking intimidating, and the redhead just nodded. "The song was ending and I figured that you were just about done dancing but..." She trailed off.

"Oh, that's alright. You're right, we were just about to finish dancing," Naruto said, smiling sheepishly, a light blush appearing on his cheeks. He had let his impulse take him over; even though he still wanted to kiss Sasuke, the part of him that had some common sense left in it was thankful. _He wasn't doing anything or objecting to my actions, and I was becoming over-confident...To think what would have happened if I had gone through with it._

Neji raised one brown eyebrow. It had not exactly looked as if they were about to finish dancing. He scrutinized Naruto's date carefully, and just as he had suspected, there was definitely something familiar about her.

"So, I assume that you are Naruto's date, the beautiful Satari?" Neji said smoothly, acting as polite as ever. "I'm Neji Hyuuga, a good friend of your date." Sasuke looked at him for a moment and decided to take Naruto's advice about being extra careful under Neji's perceptive eyes.

"Thank you for the compliment. You're correct, I'm Satari. Nice to meet you, Neji," Sasuke said, making his voice sound as girly as possible without it sounding fake. He gave him a polite look, but silently refused to smile. Even though they were once friends, that was a long time ago, and he was far from friendly with Neji.

"I'm Gaara, and I'm also a good friend of Naruto's," Gaara introduced himself to Satari, a barely-visible smile on his face. "It's good to see that Naruto got himself a girlfriend again," he commented, smirking at Naruto. Sasuke frowned at the redhead and Naruto pulled him closer, lightly squeezing his pale arm.

"Yup, and I got myself a hell of a girlfriend," Naruto said, fox-grinning. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke and smiled. Sakura merely stared at him, her face turning red. She tugged at her hair again, her green eyes flashing.

"So, how long have you two been going out exactly? Because it doesn't really look like as much as you said, Naruto, since it appeared as if you two were going to share your first kiss right there on the dance floor," she stated with a thoughtful expression. She tapped her chin and looked like she was pondering, but malevolence showed through her countenance. "I mean, on our first date you kissed me right then and there like there was no tomorrow. I pegged you more as the take-no-prisoners, do-her-against-the-wall type. Since when do you take it slow?" Sakura questioned, somehow managing to sound perfectly innocent.

Naruto stared at her with wide eyes, surprised that she would say something like that, even with that act of innocence covering for her. He felt Sasuke's eyes staring at him intensely, demanding an explanation. "I always take it slow, Sakura. If you pegged me as that type, then I suppose you don't know me, at all," he told her, a small amount of anger showing through when he spoke. Sasuke winced slightly as Naruto's grip on him tightened.

Sakura stared at him unsurely. It looked as if she was caught between running away and snarling a nasty comeback. Naruto's eyes darted down to her hands, which suddenly became clenched, her manicured nails digging into her palm. Neji and Gaara quickly exchanged glances, both knowing what this would result in.

Gaara exhaled quietly and stepped forward, separating Naruto and Sakura. He looked at both of them with slight annoyance. "Well, I have to head back to the DJ booth. People are demanding more music," he said in a monotone. He started to leave, but Neji called out and stopped him.

"Being that my date is drunk and most likely making out with a random man, would you mind if I had a dance with yours, Gaara?" Neji asked politely, tilting his head in the direction of his red-haired friend. Gaara turned and glanced between Neji and Sakura, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Sure. Have fun," he said. After exchanging glances with Neji once more, he left in the direction of the DJ booth.

Sakura stared at Neji skeptically, her emerald eyes wide. "W-what?" She stuttered, turning her attention away from Naruto and Satari to her friend beside her. She wondered why Neji would want to dance with her. Unless...She glanced backward at the couple, catching the arrogant smirk of Naruto's date. Her gaze narrowed and she opened her mouth to protest, but Neji quickly dragged her away.

"Let's dance, Sakura."

He led her to the dance floor and they began to sway to the music. Even if they were far from them, Naruto and Sasuke did not miss the panicked look on her face as she stared up at Neji. Sakura glanced at them and they could not contain their laughter. The two turned to face each other, still laughing. Eventually it diminished and pleasant expressions remained on their faces as they gazed at each other.

Suddenly, Naruto's smile dropped and a look of realization replaced it. A few minutes ago, they had been seconds away from kissing, without either of them fully realizing it. Naruto ran a hand through his hair. It was not helpful that his desire to kiss Sasuke was stronger than it had been earlier. He considered that he may have become engrossed in the moment. Naruto sighed; he knew it was not that. From this point, he had no idea what to do, but try to keep his face from turning entirely red by thinking about what had almost happened. He failed miserably and he blushed hard. Hastily, he let go of Sasuke and jumped back. An unsure and sheepish half-smile appeared on his face as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

Sasuke wondered why Naruto had let go of him and stared at him questioningly. Realization dawned to him and his false-blue eyes widened slightly. He could hardly believe that he had almost forgotten that had happened, how he had let it slide by so easily, as if he sanctioned it. His cheeks turned red, though not as much as Naruto's had, and they stared at each other awkwardly for a few moments.

"Um...Would you like to dance with me once more, Satari?" Naruto asked, finally breaking the ice. He did not sound very sure of himself when he said that. 'What Hurts The Most' by Rascal Flatts filled the large building. They looked to see Gaara in the booth, playing music and taking requests. Sasuke slowly turned to Naruto and stared at him for a few moments. He strode toward him and let his arm dangle near that of Naruto.

"I'd like to," he said simply. He did not need to look up to know that Naruto was smiling. Sasuke glanced down at his feet and felt his date's fingers barely brush his own. Naruto bit his lip, and after a few seconds of hesitation, he entwined their hands. When Sasuke did not object, he automatically felt relieved. Naruto regained some confidence and held his hand tighter. He led him to the center of the room, where they would dance together once again.

* * *

Tsunade was convinced that she had had much better birthdays than this. She ignored the fact that those birthdays where the ones that she celebrated as a child, when all you wanted to do was become older, or the ones that she pretended did not exist. She hated the fact that she aged, which was evident by looking at her face. She was a renowned doctor throughout the country and had once been a plastic surgeon, but she had resigned and became the mayor of the very large city of Konoha instead. She was actually in her fifties, but it was obvious that she had a little plastic surgery here and there. Again; she absolutely hated the fact that she grew old.

She swore that the town hall had shaken with her infuriated yells when she had discovered that Jiraiya had told the city about her birthday. He was hosting the largest party that the city would ever see, or so he claimed. That had to be a fairly large party, since Konoha City was well known for its many night clubs. Tsunade had managed to prevent herself from punching Jiraiya through the nearest wall, since she was already under enough pressure and she really did not need to be all over the news. Aside from the fact that her birthday party was already all over it.

No one had told her when exactly the party would be, so in a way, it remained a surprise as Jiraiya had originally intended. Of course, Tsunade was prepared, making sure that she was aware when her birthday came around. Her birthday passed without problem, so she had let down her guard just the slightest bit. Tsunade had been in the middle of taking a nap on all the paperwork she had to fill out when the sound of cars pulling up woke her.

Half asleep, she realized that she had no meetings scheduled, which only left one thing…her birthday party. The blonde woman quickly jolted awake, ran out of her office, and over to the balcony where she could see the first level. Sure enough, well-dressed couples were filing into the building with presents in hand. More cars began to pull up and her golden eyes widened. _I'm going to kill Jiraiya_. Tsunade ran back down the hall and crashed into her good, yet extremely perverted, friend, who did not have very long to live.

"Jiraiya!" She shouted, seeing that after their small collision, he had hastily turned around and had started to walk in the opposite direction. He halted and turned to face her, his left eye twitching. Tsunade stormed towards him, her heels stomping against the red-carpeted floor. The blonde woman stopped only when she was a few inches away from him. Jiraiya stared at her, grinning sheepishly. Tsunade was a very strong woman, therefore it was no problem for her to grab her friend by the collar and lift him a few inches from ground. She glared at him, her lips forming a frown.

"You knew I was sl…filling out paperwork," she accused him, quickly catching herself before she told him that she had been sleeping. "The least you could do was give me a small, little, five minutes in advance warning," she said through her teeth. She brought Jiraiya back down to her level. "Once I get everyone out of here, you will die."

Jiraiya slipped out of Tsunade's grasp, grabbed her wrist, and dragged her back to the balcony. They stopped at a point where they could see everyone in the enormous foyer, but the people could not see them. Jiraiya pointed at all of them, showing how many people were there. Tsunade was staring at the large entrance doors in disbelief, as pair after pair sauntered in.

"I don't think getting everyone out of here will be that easy, so I guess I have a few more hours to live," Jiraiya said jokingly. He stepped closer to the balcony and leaned over the edge to attain a better look at the people entering.

Tsunade stared for a few more moments, but she quickly snapped out of it and glared. She walked up to the balcony and peered over. "You are getting these people out of here," she ordered him. "Now."

"Now, now, Tsunade. What would the city think of you if you kicked them all out? Besides, can't you see that there are too many people to do that, and that they are still arriving?" Jiraiya reminded her. His eyes scanned the crowd for beautiful, young women with which he could flirt. Or perhaps, beautiful young women with which he could get lucky.

The busty woman eyed him and placed her hands firmly on her hips, a knowing smirk present on her face. "I guess that you're right for once, Jiraiya," she admitted. "But that still doesn't mean that I want to have a party." She finished speaking and noticed that her friend was not paying any attention to her. She glared and assumed he was preoccupied with being his perverted self. Tsunade followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at a tall blonde that wore a black halter dress that showed her entire back and split down the sides, revealing her extremely long legs.

"Pick your jaw up off the ground, you idiot," Tsunade said, smacking him on the head. Unwillingly, he turned his attention from the ladies to her, his eye twitching. "What am I supposed to do until these people leave?"

"Clean up that disheveled appearance of yours from 'filling out paperwork', write a speech thanking me for throwing such a great party for you and thank everyone for coming, open your presents, mingle with the citizens...and drink champagne." Jiraiya finished speaking with the slightest hint of a smile, but he quickly turned back to staring at the crowd, trying to find the girl with the most revealing dress.

"Okay," Tsunade said, but she ended up yawning. Filling out paperwork indeed. "I think I can live with hundreds of gifts and champagne. I'm going to go get ready and prepare the speech. Be back in an hour or so..." She said, trailing off. Tsunade smiled at Jiraiya; he still was not paying any attention. Now it seemed that he was drooling over a raven-haired beauty in a shining midnight dress, completely ignoring the fact that she looked like she was about to kiss her date. She shook her head, laughing lightly at her friend.

"You know, for this party being thrown by someone like you, it turned out pretty good...civilized…which is very strange. It better be this way when I come back," she warned him. He merely nodded and continued gazing. Tsunade rolled her golden eyes and disappeared down the hallway.

* * *

Music blared through the town hall, nearly shaking the entire building. It was nearing midnight, and for all the people that remained there, the party had just begun. Only people in their late teens and twenties (with the exception of Ino's mom, the birthday...lady, and friends) were left in the building. Half of them were drunk and on the verge of passing out, and the other half were dancing wildly in the center of the room. The older citizens of Konoha City had left as it started nearing eleven o'clock, since they were responsible adults who had other priorities. Gaara was still at the DJ booth, though now his movements were not as smooth and coordinated as they had been a few hours ago, and several empty glasses lay scattered his station. The music was louder than before and it had changed from pleasant, modern slow songs to hit rap and hip-hop songs.

Neji was sitting at a table for two, chatting and drinking with Tenten, Ino was passed out, lying across a line of several chairs, a glass of liquor still in her hand. Naruto and Sasuke had retired from the dance floor a while ago (Sasuke did not like rap and hip-hop, and besides, he had seen the way that people were supposed to 'dance' to that music. He and Naruto dancing like that...no...) and were talking and laughing at the side of the dance floor.

Sakura was sitting in a chair, looking somewhat bored and angry, and watching her ex-boyfriend and that Satari-bitch flirt with each other. She did not want to watch them and become enraged, but she could not seem to look away. Besides, she had nowhere else to look. Her date was supplying the music for the party and no one was asking her to dance; even if someone did ask, she would probably decline. Sakura realized that she should have never come to the party. Her chauffeur was not coming until later, so she supposed that she could become drunk and pass out like Ino until then.

She ended up staring at Naruto and Satari again. She could not help but notice the way that they would smile at each other. There was something strangely familiar about her demeanor, but she could not put her finger on it. She wondered if she had crossed paths with her before. In the bright light, when she had first met Satari, Sakura had thought that it was Sasuke for a second. That, though, was obviously not a possibility.

Sakura also found the way that they behaved around each other odd. It was as if they had not had a first kiss and as if they were on a first date. Naruto claimed that she was not just any random girl, so they must have gone out before. There was a possibility that they had not yet shared a kiss, but still. Sakura noticed that Naruto only looked at Satari like _that_ when her back was turned, as if he was hiding his feelings. Naruto was also very brash, yet she had never seen him blush so much. Both of their actions were very hesitant towards each other. Sakura was not convinced.

She stood up and took one step forward, then stopped herself. If she was going to approach them, what would she do? Was it not good that she was not convinced? That meant that she could tell herself that Satari was any random girl, and it would not be hard to make herself believe it, due to her observations. However, Sakura wanted to prove something, though what exactly, she did not know.

With that, she charged through the crowd, toward the chatting couple.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to dance? It seems as if you like dancing with me," Naruto teased Sasuke and smirked at him knowingly. Sasuke scoffed and put one hand on Naruto's chest in order to push him away. Afterward, he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

"Hey, what was that for?" Naruto asked, feigning sadness. He pouted and placed one hand on his chest. "What? You don't like me anymore?"

"That was for being the dobe you are." Sasuke smirked at him. "I already told you, I don't dance to this type of music. I mean, look at them." Sasuke gestured towards the people on the dance floor. Naruto glanced over, seeing nothing wrong with the scene. So, everyone was a little tipsy and almost all of them had a glass of some sort of alcoholic beverage in their hands, but that was it. "That's hardly dancing. It's more like doing the air." He scoffed again.

"Or doing the person you're dancing with," Naruto said with a foxy grin on his face. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and took a step towards Sasuke. He pushed Naruto away effortlessly, sending the blond a few steps back, laughing. Sasuke began to laugh lightly, watching as Naruto regained his balance and walked back towards him. "And, for your information, it's not doing the air. It's called grinding, and you'll see, one day you will join me and cross over to the dark side." Naruto grinned brightly.

Sasuke snickered, understanding his joke. The lights over the center of the room were all shut off, thus making it darker there than in all the other areas of the Konoha City Town Hall, which now resembled a night club more than anything. The lights were on where they were standing, but they were very dim. Due to the lack of light, Sasuke did not notice Naruto silently creeping up next to him. He jumped when Naruto slinked his arm around him.

"But seriously, Satari, it's just a little dance...And you know, you never answered my question before," Naruto said, pulling Sasuke closer as he watched the people dance. Sasuke looked up at Naruto and noticed that he was not looking at him. He felt hesitant for a moment, but he quickly recovered his composure. His hands made their way to Naruto's arm and he pulled it over his head, escaping his hold. Naruto's arm fell to his side and he turned to look at Sasuke, his expression inquisitive.

"What was the question?" Sasuke asked, even though he remembered it quite clearly. He crossed his arms and remained a few steps away from Naruto, his fake-blue eyes intense.

Naruto half-smiled, only one corner of his mouth tilting upward. He did not move and kept his hands at his sides, his blue eyes peeking through his bangs that nearly covered them. Even from where he was standing, Sasuke see the odd glint in his eyes. "You didn't want to dance because you don't like me, remember?" He reminded him, his voice sounding smooth.

"I never said that," Sasuke insisted. Naruto took a hesitant step forward. He was glad when Sasuke did not move from his place.

Naruto took a few more steps towards him and stopped when he was standing directly in front of Sasuke. He tilted Sasuke's chin up toward him, as he had done earlier that night, and their eyes locked. "So, what then?" He whispered almost seductively, getting dangerously close. They continued to stare at each other and Sasuke said nothing, not having an exact answer. He could not even explain it to himself.

Once again the scent of Naruto's cologne filled his nostrils. He did not register what was happening until he felt a warm pair of lips gently brushing against his own. At first, Naruto was hesitant, their lips barely touching. His heart pounded hard and adrenaline rushed through him. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips against Sasuke's harder, so that they were actually kissing. His heart was still beating rapidly and he knew that Sasuke would pull away any second. He would reject him and their friendship would be ruined, all because of a few seconds in which Naruto failed to think.

Then again, he knew exactly what he was thinking. It was well worth it, to risk it all, just to kiss Sasuke.

Sasuke stood frozen, still not comprehending what was happening, all his thoughts erased from his mind. Naruto was kissing him. He was not supposed to kiss his best friend, and he most certainly was not supposed to enjoy it. He was not supposed to feel a wave of warmth roll throughout his body and close his eyes, as if he had wanted this since he had begun to change.

Sasuke soon found himself kissing Naruto back.

Naruto's hands traveled down from Sasuke's chin, his fingers trailing across his skin to his waist. He pulled him closer, hesitating for a second before continuing the soft kiss. Sasuke's hands found their way to the back of Naruto's neck and he entangled them in his golden hair. Their bodies were close and they were touching, fitting into each other perfectly.

Sasuke suddenly returned to reality and realized the situation fully. He was out of breath, his heart was beating madly, his stomach was fluttering, he was dressed as a girl, and on the verge of deepening his kiss with his best friend. They were not supposed to be doing this. Sasuke started to panic and broke the kiss, panting in an attempt to catch his breath. A scarlet blush turned his usually pale face an interesting shade of red. He turned around and darted to the bathroom.

Sasuke pushed aside a man that was exiting the men's room, ran inside, and locked himself in a stall. He did not know what exactly he was feeling at the moment. Embarrassment? Shame? He realized that he felt neither of those. He had enjoyed it immensely. He felt his lips tingling from the sensation of Naruto's kiss. Sasuke could not help but wonder if Naruto tasted like ramen. He probably would have found out if he had not fled. He sighed and leant against the stall. Slowly, he raised a hand to his lips.

Naruto blinked in confusion and straightened himself into his normal standing position. He stared at the spot in which Sasuke had been standing only moments ago_. ..I-I...I can't believe I just did that... _Naruto was not blushing, though he did not know why, but it seemed like everyone around him was flushed in his place. He cursed under his breath and glanced about to see that several couples near him had stopped dancing. They stood around him with slight blushes on their faces. Neji and Tenten were traveling toward him and Sakura was standing only a few feet away from him, her face pinker than her hair.

Naruto's eyes widened as he asked himself for how long she had been standing there. He shuffled from one foot to the other and glanced backward at the bathrooms. It appeared that Sasuke was still locked up in there. Sakura inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

"Um..." He started unsurely, continually glancing over his shoulder for any signs of his date. He wondered why he had locked himself in there. Naruto had no idea how he could fix the stupid mistake of...of kissing him. He decided that following Sasuke would be a good start.

"I should probably go after Sas..." Naruto started, and then quickly corrected himself. "Sa-Satari...She probably isn't feeling too well since she ran off...and all..." He finished awkwardly, leaving his sentence hanging in the air. Neji and Tenten appeared behind Sakura, and Neji placed one hand on her shoulder, but she did not seem to notice.

Sakura just nodded absent-mindedly and found herself replaying the scene over and over again in her head. She knew one thing for certain; though she had shared countless kisses with Naruto that were anything but chaste, he had never kissed her like that.

"Okay...bye…I guess," Naruto said uncertainly. He turned around and started to hastily make his way towards the bathroom.

Sakura turned around to face Neji and Tenten, vaguely wondering why they were there. The two had decided it would be best to approach her as soon as they had seen Naruto and 'Satari' kissing on the edge of the dance floor. They had figured that they would need to keep Sakura from interfering, since it was difficult to miss the pink dot that was standing close by them. They also thought that they should see this for themselves. Sakura had no idea why they were both smirking.

'This Is Why I'm Hot' by Mims came on; Tenten took Sakura's hand, and started to drag her towards the dance floor. "Come on, Sakura! Why don't we have some fun and dance?" She suggested with a grin.

"...Sure," Sakura answered, mildly surprised. She turned back to look at Neji, but he was gone.

* * *

Naruto entered the men's bathroom, closing the door behind him. It was silent except for the echo of the pulsating music that currently filled the building. He walked across the marble floors, every noise he made seeming loud in this room. No one else appeared to be occupying the bathroom; only one stall was closed. He halted in front of it, his suspicions confirmed when he saw high-heeled shoes sticking out from beneath the stall.

He stood quietly, searching for any words that he could say. He could not think of anything and ran a hand through his hair, becoming nervous. He had no idea how Sasuke reacted to the kiss since he had no time to see his face. Darting off after a kiss, though, could not be a good sign. He figured that he should start by letting Sasuke know that he was there.

"Sasuke?" He asked, his voice echoing throughout the bathroom.

Sasuke jumped, startled, and stood up straight. He was hesitant about answering, since he too had no idea what to say to him. He did not know how Naruto was expecting him to react either. After all, Sasuke did kiss him back. No sound came from the stall in which Sasuke had locked himself, so Naruto decided that he should continue speaking, though a response would have been encouraging.

"We...we need to talk," Naruto told him, hoping that his voice did not come out shaky. "About earlier..." He started, and then trailed off. The stall door in front of him swung open and he blinked in surprise as Sasuke stepped out. He looked somewhat disheveled, but Naruto supposed that he was not looking his best either. Sasuke walked right past him, stopped in front of the mirror, and looked down at his hands.

"What's there to talk about?" Sasuke asked, still looking at his hands. Naruto seemed taken aback, approached Sasuke, and spun him around so that they were facing each other. Naruto tried to make eye contact, but Sasuke crossed his arms and nonchalantly avoided his gaze.

"Sasuke, please. Of course you know what there's to talk about! Don't tell me you-!" Naruto was interrupted by the sound of a man entering the bathroom. He stopped and looked at the two of them. A broad grin appeared on the man's face, getting the wrong impression. Naruto sighed in frustration and grabbed Sasuke by the arm, quickly pulling him past the man, out of the bathroom, and back into the foyer of the building.

"We need to go someplace secluded, where no one will bother us. Come on," he said, barely heard over the loud music. They began to walk up the stairs toward the second level of the building. Sasuke inwardly sighed and followed Naruto; he had no desire to talk about what had happened. They could just forget about it and pretend that it had never taken place.

Once they were on the second level, they walked through the halls, looking for a separate and quiet place. There were less people there and the music was not nearly as loud. As they continued to make their way down the halls, people became scarcer. Their footsteps echoed through the building and they could no longer hear the music. Sasuke, though, thought he heard an extra pair of footsteps.

He looked up when Naruto let go of his wrist to see that they had stopped in front of large French doors. Naruto smiled at him, looking slightly nervous. He pushed the doors open and they were instantly hit with a blast of cool, fresh air. Naruto walked to the edge of the balcony and leant against the rail, ignoring the lights of the city and staring up at the crescent moon instead. Sasuke followed him hesitantly and stood awkwardly near the opposite edge of the balcony.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said finally. A light breeze tousled his golden locks and he looked down, over the edge of the rail.

Sasuke was silent for a moment before responding. "For what?"

Naruto stopped leaning his weight against the rail and he turned to face Sasuke, but the raven-haired boy had his back turned to him. Naruto sighed, becoming slightly frustrated. He was not making this any easier.

"What do you think? Isn't it obvious?" Naruto asked, staring at Sasuke's back. He wanted Sasuke to turn around and face him. Naruto tensed and regarded him for a few more seconds, receiving no response. He sighed and gave in, deciding that he was not going to obtain a reply from him any time soon.

"I just want you to know that, I, well, I didn't mean it..." He said, a light blush tinting his cheeks. Sasuke glanced downwards at the ground, suddenly feeling hollow with disappointment. "Not that, you know, it wasn't nice or anything..." Naruto stuttered, his eyes widening when he realized what he had said. Despite the circumstances, Sasuke just had to smile.

"Could you turn to look at me, please? It's hard to talk to you with your back turned to me, Sasuke," Naruto said, a hint of pleading in his voice. He thought that he heard a small gasp and turned his head in the direction from which the noise came. Nothing was there.

Sasuke turned to the side and looked at him directly in the eyes, that arrogant smirk of his on his face. "There, I listened." Naruto smiled at him, softly, his eyes looking warm. He no longer felt as nervous.

"I just want you to understand that I don't go around kissing my best friends. It was nothing, believe me. If you want an explanation, I guess I could just say that I was-" Naruto failed to finish his sentence, seeing that Sasuke cut him off.

"You were caught up in the act?" Sasuke interjected, still smirking. Naruto looked at him and nodded his head. "Don't worry about it, Naruto. I understand what you're trying to say. It's nothing. Let's just forget it," he finished, his voice dropping in volume. Even though this thing, whatever it was, seemed resolved, he still felt despondent.

"Yeah...It was...nothing," Naruto echoed. For a second, Sasuke thought that he looked sullen, but the expression was so brief that he doubted that it was ever there. Naruto had his usual smile on his face again. He turned his head and looked out over the horizon as he watched the lights of the city. Sasuke turned and did the same, except with his usual apathetic expression. He rubbed one eye and glanced over at Naruto.

"Let's go home. I'm tired of keeping up this act," Sasuke said, starting to walk back towards the entrance doors to the balcony. He entered the building and when he was a few steps inside, he turned around to look at Naruto. He raised one eyebrow in question. With one last look at the midnight sky, Naruto turned around and walked to Sasuke's side.

"Sasuke, I don't think it's an act anymore..." Naruto murmured to himself, so quietly that it was impossible for Sasuke to have heard. The two walked away in silence. Naruto counted the number of lies that he had told in the span of a few minutes. It was far from nothing to him.

In their haste to return to the dorms, they failed to notice the irregular shape of the curtain near the balcony and the strands of pink hair that peeked from behind it.

* * *

(A/n): It helps if you play _Far Away _by Nickelback when they're dancing…it really sets the mood. Believe me, I sat there writing it with the song playing on my lovely green iPod. :D I thought that was a pretty perfect song to play for their special dance together…don't you think? And it was on my NaruSasu play list too. (And the song says believe it! American!Naruto, you kill me. Seriously.)


	13. Aftershock

Special thanks to NarutoNineTails for being the 400th reviewer! I can't believe it! Thy authoress is unworthy! xD (though I'm still extremely happy) I love all of you :D FREE HUGS!

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer:_ I still do not own Naruto, and I NEVER will, goddammit!

_Warnings:_ **NaruSasu**, yaoi/shounen-ai, profanities, **freakishly long chapters**, and Itachi-ness. Yes, he DOES get his own warning!

_Review pretty please with mochi on top n.n_

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: AFTERSHOCK**

She did not remember how or when she had arrived at home, nor what had happened after she had arrived at her mansion. The night was one huge blur, all the memories of the party meshing together. All she knew was that when she woke in her own bed, she was still wearing the red gown that she had bought for Tsunade's party. Sakura concluded that her chauffeur must have taken her home and that she had collapsed on the bed and had fallen asleep as soon as she entered her room. She sighed and climbed off her bed, her head aching. Sakura winced and clutched her stomach, suddenly feeling sick. She knew that she did not have a hangover, since she had barely drank any alcohol last night, so her sickness was not an effect of drinking.

Sakura dragged herself across her large room and into her bathroom. She took a good look at herself in the mirror; she looked like a mess. Her usually straight hair was curled and strands were sticking up in every direction. Her face was smudged with cosmetics that she had apparently forgotten to remove, and there were bags beneath her eyes. The pink-haired girl thought that her typically bright, emerald eyes looked strangely dull today, but she could not remember why.

Sakura dismissed it, slipped out of her wrinkled and ruined Armani dress, and turned on her shower. She stepped in and started to wash her hair (with her favorite strawberry shampoo, of course) as she recollected last night's events. She recalled that, in her opinion, it had been boring, and that she had felt either jealous, angry, or miserable most of the time. The cause?

It was Naruto, her ex-boyfriend that she could not quite get over, against whom she held an unreasonable grudge because they had broken up. Sakura ignored the fact that it was she who had ended their relationship, but he had been neglecting her.

She also remembered that throughout the night, everyone seemed to have been dragging her away from where she had wanted to be the most. Neji, Tenten, and Gaara had all made efforts to distract her; now that she looked back on it, it did not go unnoticed. How could she not have realized it then? Sakura remembered that Ino had passed out before the party had really even started (due to family issues), and how gorgeous Naruto's raven-haired date had looked. He had probably taken her back to his dorm after the party and had given her one hell of a night.

That Satari-bitch.

Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization and she froze. She stopped washing her hair and stood motionlessly in the shower, feeling the bullets of water hit her back. Sakura remembered acting malicious by interrupting the couples' romantic dance, watching them share a kiss, stooping as low as following them, and finding out that Satari was Sasuke Uchiha in a dress.

Her mouth suddenly became dry. She quickly finished washing herself and she stepped out of the shower. She wrapped one towel around herself and another around her hair, sat down on the toilet seat, and stared down at her red toe nails.

She could hardly believe it herself. More so, she did not want to believe it. The evidence, though, could not be ignored. She had heard it with her own ears, and in the end, it made sense. Though the same could not be said about why Sasuke had been Naruto's date, or why they had kissed, or how they had acted around each other. Sakura bit her lip and brought her knees up to her chest. _What in the world would compel Naruto to bring Sasuke to the party? What would make that kid even say yes?_

_ What would make Naruto kiss Sasuke like that when he could never kiss me like that?_

Her headache returned and she started to feel sick in her stomach again. Sakura sat up, threw on a pair of baggy silk pajamas, and let her wet hair down from the towel. She grabbed her cell phone and collapsed onto her extremely large, magenta bean bag chair, feeling as if she needed to tell someone, anyone, what she had discovered. She wondered if anyone would believe her when she did not believe herself.

Sakura felt a surge of anger pass through her and she gripped her cell phone tightly. _This can't be true. It's impossible, there's no way that could've happened_. She fidgeted with her fingers and inhaled sharply, then flipped open her phone, her green eyes wide. Sakura was skeptical about all of it, yet convinced. Everything seemed to be contradicting itself lately.

The next thing she knew, Ino's number had been speed-dialed and her phone was pressed against her ear, ringing. Sakura did not consider telling the world about her discovery, she just wanted to discuss it with someone and organize her thoughts. Even though Ino most likely had a horrible hangover, she could think of no one better to talk to than her best friend. Sakura began to tremble. She was uncertain if it was because of her cold, wet hair or the sudden realization and remembrance of last night's events.

After several seemingly endless rings, someone on the other line picked up the phone. Sakura took a quick breath, ready to blurt out everything, but she was interrupted by a random comment from Ino.

"Oh my god, the words on the aspirin bottles are so incredibly tiny, it's so hard to read! Why hasn't anyone ever noticed this before?"

Sakura sighed, a small smile appearing on her face. "Hello to you too, Ino," she greeted.

"Oops, I'm sorry, Sakura. I just have this monster hangover from getting wasted at the party last night, and I'm not feeling so well," Ino admitted, laughing at her own actions. She stopped giggling when she felt a sharp pain in her head and had the sudden urge to run to a bathroom to vomit. She groaned and rubbed her head. "Can you fill me in on what happened last night? I hope I didn't miss anything important."

The party's events ran through Sakura's mind at high-speed all over again. She winced and exhaled shakily. Ino just about missed everything that was significant.

"Actually..." Sakura girl started, trailing off.

Ino's interest was piqued and she blinked herself out of her hung over daze. "What happened?" She asked, sounding inquisitive. Sakura could just imagine Ino's innocent (though she was far from it), periwinkle eyes sparkling with curiosity. She was unsure if she should continue, because if she was in Ino's place, she probably would not have wanted to know. It dawned to her that she could not even fool herself with that lie. If she told her, though,everyone in town would know within five minutes after Ino opened her mouth, since the girl lived for gossip. Then again, that would only occur if Ino believed anything that she said.

"You know Naruto's date? Uh…Satari?" Sakura asked, tempted to call 'her' Sasuke.

"Oh, right! Damn it, I was so out of it last night that I didn't even get a chance to meet her, and I was really looking forward to it," Ino pouted, sounding disappointed. She quickly recovered and continued. "So, did she live up to our expectations? I bet she and Naruto were practically getting it on on the dance floor," the blonde chirped. Even through a hangover, her friend never did fail to be perverted.

"Well...Sort of," Sakura said, her voice sounding strange. "They danced a few times and um...kissed." She was relieved to have finally said it. The image ran through Sakura's mind again, making her feel like running to her bathroom and washing her mouth out with soap.

"French?" Ino asked, feigning innocence as she tried to pry details from her.

"Ino Yamanaka!" Sakura scolded. On the other side of the line, Ino merely laughed nervously. Sakura resumed speaking, sounding a tad angry. "I wouldn't tell you information like that. Do you think I was paying that much attention? Why would I have reason to?" She blurted, blushing afterward. She had just implied a great deal to her best friend. Sakura had to admit that she had been paying attention rather closely. It was difficult to do otherwise.

"Well, the chick kissed your ex, which I have to say is a nice piece of ass, and I know that you still have some sort of feelings towards him. Whether you're attracted to him, whether you still like him, or whether you have feelings of hate and resentment. Soo...did they?" Ino finished her speech proudly. Sakura hesitated and bit her bottom lip.

"I-I don't know...maybe a little bit. I mean, for a second Naruto looked like he was going to go for it, but then he seemed sort of nervous about-Ugh, Ino!" Sakura scolded her again, her facing turning a light shade of pink over what she had just said. She heard Ino laughing insanely and she only grew more flustered.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry _mother_," Ino laughed, teasing her lightly. Her giggling halted and she smirked mischievously. "Besides," she said nonchalantly, "why are you yelling at me? I didn't force those words out of your mouth."

"You used your powers, Ino. That's not playing it fair," Sakura pointed out with a pout. They both laughed and the pink-haired girl was glad that she had decided to call her friend. She felt much better now, and it was no longer unbearable to think about what had happened between Naruto and Sata-Er, Sasuke. She realized that she had almost forgotten all about the whole Naruto's-date-was-a-man thing. Her mood plunged immediately and she fell into a gloomy state. Sakura mentally cursed herself for remembering.

"Oh, Ino, you should have seen the girl." _More like guy_, Sakura added mentally. Whatever sex Naruto's date was, they were still absolutely gorgeous and had made her feel completely pathetic in comparison last night. "The bitch looked perfect. No wonder Naruto dumped a plain 'ol cotton candy haired fat lump like me." She sighed, adding on to the list of insults in her head. She suddenly became enraged. Apparently, Sasuke, a man, was good enough for Naruto and she was not.

"Sakura-chan, you're not a fat lump, and, uh, you dumped him," Ino said, trying to comfort her friend the best that she could. Not to mention, quickly remind her that it was she who had ended their relationship. Ino had to wonder why Sakura was suddenly talking about how she felt about an event that happened over a month ago. When the actual break up had occurred, Sakura had not notified her, and had not delineated her feelings afterward. To her, this sudden confession did not make much sense ."You're not telling me something. So what if the bitch was pretty, Sakura, you know that you're gorgeous...You and I are just about the hottest chicks in the entire city. What's really bothering you?" She asked, concerned.

"Well...Ino...Did you ever think that Naruto might be…gay?" Sakura asked awkwardly, feeling embarrassed even if she was discussing it over the phone. She bit her bottom lip and only received silence from the other side of the line.

"...Where the hell did that come from?" Ino asked, blinking stupidly. "Well, anyway, he always could be. I think I saw him checking out some hot guys at the beach once," she said, sounding thoughtful.

"_What_?" Sakura choked out and started to splutter nonsense words.

"Whoa there, calm down!" Ino said, laughing. "I was just joking. I've never seen him check out guys, and if he was, I wouldn't have noticed. I would've been too busy checking them out myself," Ino said with a wink and continued laughing. Sakura was somewhat annoyed with Ino for doing that, but she laughed anyway, even though it sounded entirely fake and nervous. "Hmmm...he could always be sneaky about it, though," Ino pondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Ino..." Sakura warned, her voice sounding somewhat dangerous. She sighed and her friend just giggled. "Seriously, I don't even know why I hang out with you anymore."

"You know you love me," Ino said, sounding cheerful as ever. Sakura assumed that during some point in this conversation (which she had just recently decided was going nowhere. Well, at least not in the direction she had intended for it to go. She had yet to tell her about the whole Naruto and Sasuke thing) Ino must have taken the pain killers, since she sounded much better than she had a few minutes ago. "Still...I'm curious, what happened at the party that made you randomly question Naruto's sexuality?" She inquired suspiciously.

Sakura was presented with the perfect opportunity to relay what had happened. Even if, Sakura realized, when she reviewed the story in her head, it seemed completely insane and unbelievable. She supposed that Ino would have to take her word for it and trust her. Sakura clicked her tongue and tried to think of a way to say that did not make her seem like she had a few loose screws. "Er..well...Sasuke, and uh, a dress, and he looked like a girl, and Naruto was his date, and then they, um, kissed."

It was quiet for a few seconds as Ino mulled over what her friend had just told her. "Forehead, are you alright? That didn't really make any sense...And why are we talking about Sasuke? He didn't go to the party," Ino pointed out warily.

"Oh, he was there alright," Sakura muttered under her breath.

Ino had not missed what Sakura had murmured and her eyes widened with shock. Was she saying that Sasuke, the most asexual and antisocial person on the face of the earth, went to the party? _With a date_? Ino considered the possibility that he had gone alone, but that did not make any sense either. Suddenly, realization hit her. Based on her friend's strange questions and mumbles throughout their conversation, she deduced that Sakura thought that Sasuke was Satari. Ino had no idea what to do but laugh. There was no way that could be true.

"Sakura, are you saying that Sasuke got in a dress and went to the party with Naruto and then they made out?" Ino asked incredulously. She tried to be serious about it, but she tried to hide a giggle and failed. "Do you realize how unbelievable and absolutely insane that sounds?"

"Yes, I realize that it may sound a little...But you have to believe me, Ino! Doesn't it just all make sense now? The way that they are always together, and how he is the only one who can get through to that kid, those times when he blew us off because he was going to spend time with his new BFF, the way that they fucking _look _at each other, for christ's sake! _It all makes sense now_!" Sakura said, practically shouting at the end. She breathed deeply in an effort to calm herself down, and then heavily exhaled. She had finally gotten it off her chest; it was said and done.

"Sakura...do you really know how hard to believe that is? It was like I wasn't even there, I was fucking passed out half the time, and drunk beyond belief the other half. I do admit...I guess that would make a lot of sense...but it isn't that big of a deal whether they like each other or not, even if it is true," Ino said with a sigh. "Listen, why don't you come over to my place and we can talk about this, watch some movies, jump around on my bed to Cascada like idiots, and wallow in our headaches together. Sound good?" Ino suggested, smiling happily.

Sakura's lips slowly formed into a smile. She sighed and nodded her head in agreement, deciding that a little quality time with her best friend would help her feel better and take her mind off everything. "Yeah, that sounds perfect. I'll be there in half an hour, alright?"

"Great, but just for the record..." Ino started, a smirk slowly forming on her face. Sakura caught the tone in her voice and knew that a very perverted and Ino-like comment was sure to follow. "If Naruto and Sasuke really do like each other...dayum, that's hot. Give me a front seat, I wanna watch!" She exclaimed enthusiastically, pumping her arms up into the air.

"Ino Yamanaka!" Sakura scolded, a light blush appearing on her cheeks. Though, through her shout, she was fighting a smile.

* * *

Naruto jolted awake from his dream and hit his head hard on the wood bottom of the empty bunk bed above him. He grunted in pain and gripped his head, then proceeded to leave his bed. He tossed the covers off himself, swung his legs over the side of his bed, and forced himself to stand. Naruto yawned and continued to rub the spot where he hit his head as he took a good look around his dorm room. The tuxedo from last night was haphazardly draped across a random chair and the black dress shoes that he had worn were nowhere to be seen. Along with the dream he just had, they were a reminder of what happened last night.

Over the course of the entire night, Naruto had the same dream continually. Each time it ended, it repeated itself, never showing what happened before or after that certain moment. It was weird to admit, but Naruto had spent the night dreaming about kissing his best friend. He was in his tuxedo, Sasuke was posing as Satari, and the kiss was exactly like the one that had occurred last night. Naruto had to say, he did not exactly mind experiencing kissing Sasuke in his dreams repeatedly, but it was a constant reminder of what a mistake he had made at Tsunade's party.

But he told himself that it would be all right. They had already silently agreed to completely forget about it and act as if nothing had happened between them. Naruto could not help but wonder what would have happened if they did not pretend that the kiss had never happened. Where would they be now? Their friendship could have been ruined, or would it have turned into something more than just friendship? It did not help that the fact that Sasuke had kissed him back was bothering him in the back of his mind. That had to mean something.

Naruto sighed and dug through the pockets of the pants that he had worn last night. He found his car keys and tossed them onto his desk, since he had just decided that he was going out for breakfast today, and he was going to invite a certain someone to come along. He was determined to make sure that things stayed the same between them and that they could hang out together just like before the kiss happened.

He strolled into the bathroom, but not before turning on the radio as loud as it could go. If Sasuke had been asleep earlier, he definitely was not anymore. Naruto stripped off his clothing and hopped into the shower, washing himself as fast as he could, eager to catch his friend before he became bored and decided to go anywhere. As he showered, Naruto sang along with every song of which he knew the lyrics at the top of his lungs. He knew that he probably sounded like crap, but that was not stopping him. After an exhausting repeated spelling of the word 'delicious', 'Fergalicious' ended and on came a song that he knew all too well. 'Far Away' by Nickelback blared from his speakers and his cerulean eyes widened.

Naruto darted out of the shower, tossed a towel around his waist, and shut his stereo off immediately. He did not want to hear that song, not right now. Again, he was reminded of the party that he was trying to forget. His and Sasuke's romantic dance together replayed in his head and he looked down at the blue carpet beneath his feet. He closed his eyes and sighed, finally understanding that he would never be able to forget what happened. Whether he regretted it or not, he did not know, but no matter what, those feelings he had during the party would always be there. Fervor, warmth, lust, longing, love…

He started to shake, suddenly noticing he was quite cold. Naruto pushed his wet bangs away from his face and quickly walked back into the bathroom. He shut off the shower, towel-dried his messy blonde hair, and dug through his never-ending closet in search of something to wear. Hastily, he dressed himself, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door.

Naruto walked down the hallway towards Sasuke's room, and he knocked on the door without a second of hesitation. He tried not to think too much about the history they now had; he found that it was much easier to erase his thoughts and act. After a few seconds of waiting, the door swung open, and Naruto had his usual foxy grin ready. Though when he saw Sasuke, his grin faltered a bit, and the sudden urge to blush arose. Perhaps he was not as prepared to confront him as he had thought.

Sasuke had to admit he was somewhat surprised that Naruto had come to visit him. He had to wonder why he was dropping by. He tried not to let his shock show and carefully scrutinized his friend. Actually, he did not have much reason to be surprised, after all, who else but his blond 'neighbor' would ever come to knock at his door?

"Hey, Sasuke. Are you doing anything today?" Naruto asked, flashing a brilliant smile. After he said that, he immediately felt like hitting himself over the head. It sounded like he was asking Sasuke out on a date. He had to remind himself that he was supposed to be acting normally, which meant that he could not be Super Flirt.

This time, Sasuke was sure that surprise showed through his features. Really, he was not trying that hard to hide it. Sasuke stared at him, sure that he was blushing. He was angry at himself for reacting like this, Naruto always acted this way towards him. He looked and acted the same way he did every day. He had his alluring, foxy grin, his startling cerulean eyes, his tight, tanned skin, his shorts that barely clung to his slim hips, and his golden hair that always fell into his eyes. Sasuke decided to stop his observations there.

"Not really. Why? Is there somewhere you'd like to go?" Sasuke asked, regaining his composure. He raised his eyebrows and looked at him with an inquisitive expression. No one would ever have known what thoughts were currently running through his mind.

Naruto placed one hand on the doorframe and leant against it, then nodded his head. "Yup, you read my mind, 'suke," Naruto said, smiling. He brushed his bangs out of his eyes, and then grabbed his car keys out of his pocket, showing them to Sasuke. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out to eat some breakfast? I'm paying," he offered.

"What brought on this sudden act of kindness?" Sasuke said cynically. Naruto was quiet for a brief second and his eyes seemed to turn a shade darker, looking as if he was suddenly dragged into deep thought. This did not go unnoticed by Sasuke. "Actually, I am pretty hungry. I'll go as long as it's not ramen," he said quickly, snapping his friend out of his daze.

"For once, it isn't ramen. How about eggs, or pancakes, or waffles, or something? I know this great place on the other side of town," Naruto told him, looking at him with bright eyes. He no longer cared if it sounded like he was asking him out on a date, because the reality of it was, he wanted to ask Sasuke out on a date. Naruto stared at Sasuke hopefully while he pretended to think. "Goddammit, answer already!" He demanded impatiently.

Sasuke smirked at him with satisfaction. "Calm down, dobe. Just give me a second to go get my jacket," he said and turned around to go fetch his coat. He picked it up off a chair and shrugged it on, walking past his closet on his way back to the door. It was slightly open, enabling him to see the floor-brushing midnight gown, even if he had stuffed it in the depths of his closet to be forgotten. Sasuke frowned and continued to walk towards the door, where Naruto eagerly awaited.

"Okay, okay, you got your jacket. Ready now?" Naruto asked, smiling at him.

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a second, and then quickly averted his eyes, choosing to stare at the carpet instead. "Yeah, let's get going," he said and the two started to walk down the hallway, side by side. Both Naruto and Sasuke did not know how much longer they could keep on acting as if nothing had happened.

* * *

Popcorn flew back and forth through the air, being whipped wildly across the room. Ino dodged another white-yellow blur coming straight at her, quickly knelt down on the floor, and started to frantically gather any popcorn within her reach. When she thought she had enough, she scrambled over to her couch and peered over the top, only to have popcorn thrown at her face. Ino screeched, covered her face, and slouched back down, using her sofa as cover. She sat like that until it seemed like Sakura had ceased fire. Ino slowly took her hands away from her face, dubiously staring at her surroundings.

"I got you!" Sakura shouted triumphantly and jumped up from the other side of the couch. Ino looked up with wide eyes, startled. She screamed and Sakura dumped the entire bowl of popcorn onto her head, dusting her clothes off when she was done. They started to laugh and Ino reached up to pull the pink-haired girl over the top of the couch, sending her falling to the ground. She hit the ground with a thud and then continued to giggle.

"Fine, you win the popcorn wars, Sakura. I now recognize your greatness," Ino said, bowing to her friend. Sakura stuck her tongue out at Ino and smiled elatedly. Ino grabbed the popcorn basket beside her from the floor, sat up, and whipped it at Sakura's head. Sakura fell backwards with the sudden impact and struggled to sit back up. Ino took her phone out from the back pocket of her miniskirt and started to snap photos of her friend, giggling like insane.

"This is so going on the internet," Ino chirped and carefully placed her phone back into her pocket. Sakura sat up, her emerald eyes wide. She threw the basket back at Ino, missing by a mile.

"Dammit, Ino, you whore! Give me that phone!" The pink-haired girl shouted, tackling her friend. Ino laughed and tried to push Sakura away from her, but had no success. Sakura grabbed the phone with a grin and started to pull it out of Ino's pocket. Ino's eyes narrowed and she licked her friends arm, frightening her away immediately. Sakura squealed and let go of the phone as she ran a safe distance away. Ino simply sat up and blew her long bangs away from her face. She smoothed her hair and began to daintily pluck popcorn off herself.

"If you wanted to touch my ass, you could've just asked nicely, Sakura," Ino said with a maniacal grin. Sakura was running around frantically, trying to find something with which to wipe her arm. She settled for Ino's purple duvet; she dragged her arm across it, and then finally started to calm down. "I would've said yes, you know." She smiled, her eyes forming into happy half-circles.

"Stop being so perverted! I so do not want to touch your ass," Sakura said insistently, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. She rolled her eyes, walked up to Ino, and smacked her over the head. Ino quickly grabbed her arm and bit her. Sakura screamed again and tried to shake her friend loose.

"Y-You bit me! You crazy bitch!" Sakura yelled, inspecting the damage on her arm. Ino was howling with laughter as she rolled around on her white carpet and clutched her stomach. Sakura scurried into Ino's enormous bathroom, becoming cold when her bare feet made contact with the frozen marble floors. She tip-toed over to the sink and started to scrub her arm vigorously, ignoring Ino's mad giggling.

Abruptly, 'Grillz' by Nelly filled the room. Ino sat up and stopped her giggling. She blinked her periwinkle eyes and realized that the sound was coming from her phone. In one fluid motion, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open, bringing it to her ear. "Hello?" She asked and waited for a response. Sakura walked back into the room, drying her arm with a towel.

"Who is it?" Sakura inquired when she saw that Ino was on the phone. Ino held one finger up in Sakura's direction, telling her to be quiet and hold on for a minute. Sakura waited patiently (well, as patiently as someone with her temper could) and tapped her foot against the floor, watching Ino intently. "Just put it on speaker phone already," Sakura exhaled heavily, becoming annoyed.

Ino gave her a pouty look and turned speaker phone on. "Say hi to Sakura, Neji!" Ino exclaimed animatedly. Sakura blinked dumbly and dropped the towel that she had been using. She walked over to her friend and plopped down beside her.

"Neji's on the phone? What's he doing calling?" Sakura asked, sounding puzzled. Though they were good friends, it was usually one of the girls or Naruto that would convene everyone. Sakura felt like mentally slapping herself. Ino did not have a boyfriend (she was more than happy being single and would only allow for one night stands, apparently), and Naruto was most likely with his little boyfriend, so who else could it be? Sakura's eyes hardened. She just had to remind herself.

"I didn't know that you were there, Sakura," Neji said, his voice distorted through the phone. "What, am I not allowed to call?" He sounded like he was smirking. Neji chuckled before continuing. "Anyway, I called because we're having a get together at my place." Both Ino and Sakura's interest was piqued at this; they stared at the phone with curious, but perplexed, expressions.

It was the day after Tsunade's party. It had not even been twelve hours since the end of it. Usually, Neji was a very courteous person, like a typical well-rounded rich boy should be, and not only respected, but understood their occasional need to have time to themselves. Therefore, he would give his friends time to sleep in past noon from a late night of partying, recover from their hangovers, and puke their guts out. So, his calling them in the early hours of the day after a midnight-breaching party and inviting them over was very unlike him.

"Like, what kind of get together? A party?" Ino asked, sounding hopeful. Sakura raised her eyebrows at Ino. After drinking to the point where being hospitalized for intoxication was a high possibility and passing out on the nearest line of chairs was certain, any person would think that someone would grow tired of partying. That was evidently not the case with Ino. _Talk about a one-track mind._

"No, I don't think it's that. Is it a meeting?" Sakura asked. She was almost certain that it was, after all, this morning she had realized how much of an effort her friends had made to keep her away from Naruto and his date, especially Neji. Which could only mean that he knew. It was not a surprise to her, he had always been very perceptive, but it irritated her how he had never said anything, or, much less, had done anything.

"Pfft, why the hell would it be a _meeting_?" Ino said, scoffing. She turned to stare at Sakura with raised eyebrows, looking at her with skepticism. The pink-haired girl simply met her eyes with a glare.

"Actually...it sort of is. I think we all have something to talk about regarding the party last night," Neji said, sounding as calm as usual. He was just waiting for Ino to start blurting questions, since she had missed everything last night. And as for Sakura, he had no idea what to expect. Tenten had told him that after she and Sakura had finished their dance together, the pink-haired girl had run off in pursuit of two figures. She added that she had attempted to follow her, but 'she couldn't move for shit in her damn heels.' Neji did not even need to guess who those two people were. Naruto and 'Satari.'

Due to Sakura pulling a stalker move, he concluded that they would all have something rather interesting to discuss when the next morning came. The fact that she was at Ino's did not help either; it was certain that she had opened her mouth, but Neji was not certain if Ino had actually believed her claim. So far, the people who knew that Sasuke was Satari (and possibly had a clue that something was going on between he and Naruto) were the following: Tenten, Sakura, Ino, and himself.

"Yes!" Sakura exclaimed with much enthusiasm, practically jumping up from her spot on the ground. "We have a lot to talk about." She stood up and firmly placed her hands on her hips, an atrocious smirk forming on her lips.

Ino glanced back and forth between the phone and Sakura (who had really started to scare her with that heinous look on her face), not quite understanding what was happening. She did not catch any hidden meaning behind Neji's words as Sakura had appeared to. Ino sighed and ran her fingers through her long, silky ponytail. "Did you two hook up or something last night and not tell me?" She said, sounding as chaste as white snow.

"No!" Sakura and Neji said in unison. Even when Ino was not deliberately being perverted, she always jumped to sex-related conclusions. "But another two people that we know did hook up," Sakura added nonchalantly. Ino simply stared at her incredulously, her eyebrows knitted.

"Oh, don't tell me. This is all about the whole crap with Naruto you told me," Ino said to Sakura, her words dripping with skepticism. She rolled her eyes and stood up, taking a place beside her pink-haired friend. "I don't give a shit if Naruto is gay or bi or whatever and if Sasuke is his new boyfriend," Ino said loudly, almost to the point that she was yelling. She handed her phone to Sakura and stormed across her room, collapsing onto her king-sized bed. Sakura merely stared at her with shock and Neji stayed quiet on his side of the line. If anyone should be aggravated over the situation, it should be her, not Ino. Nothing came to mind that could help her comprehend why the usually cheery girl was becoming angered.

"Okay...We'll be at your place in fifteen. We're leaving now," Sakura said, still staring at Ino, who was currently stuffing her face into the nearest pillow.

"Alright. I called Gaara earlier. He told me that he had some things to do, but that was awhile ago. He should be here any minute now," Neji said. "Are you sure you'll be able to…?"

"It's fine, I'll handle it." The pink-haired girl said with a heavy sigh. Sakura and Neji quickly said their goodbyes and Ino murmured one, though it was muffled and barely audible due to the fact that her face was in a pillow. Sakura snapped the phone shut and placed it in one of Ino's many ridiculously expensive designer bags that littered her room. She then started to make her way across the room to the large bed, carefully stepping over the mess on the floor.

Sakura came to a halt and stood at the edge of Ino's bed, staring at her with uncertainty. She was unsure of what to do next. Ino had always been happy, cheerful, and rarely became upset by anything. This kind of situation had never arisen; therefore she was essentially useless when it came to cheering Ino up. Sakura sighed, instantly feeling guilty. What kind of friend was she? Though she had not expected for Ino to suddenly start shouting at her, she had to at least try. Besides, she told Neji that she could handle it.

Sakura still stood quietly. She took a few steps forward and sat down on the bed next to Ino. Ino just made a whiny noise that indicated that she did not want to be bothered and pulled the pillow over her head. Sakura poked Ino's arm, trying to get her attention, but her hand was just swatted away. Sakura sighed and tried again, but she was hit in the face with the pillow and Ino rolled away from her, now facing the opposite direction. Sakura was becoming slightly frustrated, but she had to admit that she was fighting a smile. Ino was being so difficult and acting so very childish that she could not help but giggle. Sakura soon found that a warm, fond smile was forming on her face.

"Come on, Ino, let's go. We can't keep Neji waiting," Sakura said, sitting cross-legged on the bed. She did not receive a response, minus some incoherent mumbles. "Listen, I'm sorry that this whole thing is upsetting you. I know that my attitude towards this whole...issue isn't helping much either. I know you don't care that much about what's going on…but I do. Naruto's our friend, so this thing, whatever it is, concerns us all. I don't know what exactly Neji wants to talk to us about, but if he's calling it a meeting, then it has to be important. You were passed out and drunken last night, and you missed a lot...Don't you want to know what's going on?" Sakura asked, her words soft and gentle as she spoke. She somewhat surprised that she was able to say all that without being interrupted.

There was not a single noise in the Yamanaka Estate. The stillness of the air bothered Sakura and made her uncomfortable. Finally, Ino sat up and threw the pillow off her head. Noise seemed to return to the world. Ino looked at Sakura with a doubtful expression, her hair dishelmed and her cheeks red from the warmth of the pillow.

"What do you mean 'concerns us all'? This is his business, and let him deal with it. We don't need to be talking about this _issue_ behind his back when it doesn't even involve us," Ino spat, ripping the gentle look off Sakura's face. She did not miss how Ino had sarcastically said the word she had used to address the situation. "If you want to help, though I don't see why or how he would need any, that's different. Maybe Neji wants to tell us to stay out of it, and let them be. Not gossip, as you seem to put it. And maybe I'm glad that I seemed to miss everything, and I don't understand what is going on as clearly as you do. That makes me not as much of a part of it, and I'm able to take a step back and observe what is happening. The way you are acting towards Naruto and Sasuke's little romance is not _right_, Sakura_-chan_." Ino finished, tightly clenching her pillow, shakily drawing in a breath.

It was obvious that she was angry. Correction, she was not angry; she was on the verge of being furious. There was a hint of repulsion in the look on her face.

Sakura's emerald eyes widened and she looked at her in disbelief. She and Ino were fighting. This had not happened since they were rivals, but they had still been friends in a way back then. They had fought over trivial matters, not over anything that was of real importance. However, Ino was nearly yelling at her for the things she said and the way she behaved. They stood on diametric sides of the subject. To both of them, this mattered very much.

Sakura was telling herself that she should be angry and that she should start yelling at Ino in return. _Well, if you say that my behavior is wrong, than what is right? Sitting back and _observing_ as you are? You don't know how much this whole thing affects me! What a shock this is...to know that Naruto is with Sasuke. For everything so suddenly make so much sense. He is going to become distant, abandon us, we're losing him. Just like he abandoned me for that...that.. _Sakura continued to rant within her mind. She opened her mouth, trying to repeat those exact words, but nothing came out. At least, not what she had intended.

"Ino, I don't want to fight. Come on, we're best friends…We can't let something like this make us start reverting back to our old behavior towards each other. I'm so, so sorry, I'll try not to speak like that again. I'll keep my thoughts to myself..." Sakura trailed off, her desperation showing through her voice. She sighed, wanting to slap herself.

Ino seemed to be calming down, her grip on the pillow gradually loosening until her fists were completely unfurled. She was carefully listening to Sakura's words. Ino sighed, threw her pillow onto the floor, and turned to stare at her friend.

"Even if you don't say them you'll continue to think them," Ino said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "You may see it as a problem, an issue for some reason unknown to me, but I don't. I don't understand the way you think, Sakura, and where you get some of your ideas from. Why do you hold such a grudge against Naruto?"

Sakura took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I don't know. People don't need reasons for the things they do."

"But I'd like it if people did have reasons," Ino said, looking down at her hands. "Ugh, Sakura, when did things start to get so complicated? My head is starting to hurt," she whined, looking back up at Sakura. Her eyes were closed in happy half-circles, her usual cheerful smile on her face. Sakura smiled brightly and shrieked, tackling her friend with a hug. Ino laughed and returned the hug, then pushed the pink-haired girl away from her.

"Thank you so much for forgiving me. It won't be in vain. I'll keep my mouth shut about this Naruto-and-Sasuke thing the best I can, I promise," Sakura said quickly, relieved.

Ino laughed and sat up from the bed, glancing at her full-length mirror beside her bed. She fixed her ponytail and smoothed out her wrinkled clothing. "Come on, we should get going. Like you said, we shouldn't keep Neji waiting." Ino glanced at her digital clock on her night table. "We're already late. C'mon! Let's get our lil' arses moving."

Sakura laughed and stood up, stretching.

"Oh, and Sakura," Ino started, talking as she walked out the door of her room. The said girl stepped out of Ino's room and into the hall, looking at her with curiosity. "Naruto is not your friend."

Despite the cheery tone Ino used when she spoke, Sakura felt the sting of the comment. She followed Ino down the many halls and down the main stairs, staring at her silky blonde ponytail sway back and forth as they climbed down to the foyer. Though the earthquake had passed, there seemed to be some tremors left over.

* * *

Neji tapped his foot impatiently and ran a hand through his long hair. He glanced at his phone, taking note of the time. Ino and Sakura were late by twenty minutes. He sighed, gingerly picking up his glass of wine and taking a sip of it, then placing it back on its coaster on the glass table in the center of the Hyuuga's living room. Gaara was spread out across the black leather loveseat to the right of Neji, taking drink of his martini. He pulled the glass away from his lips and placed it on the matching glass table beside him. The red-head stared at Neji with advertent eyes, letting a few seconds of silence pass between them.

"They aren't going to come," Gaara finally said, staring at the colossal front door of the Hyuuga Mansion. He stayed alert and kept his eyes on the door, waiting for his two female friends to come strolling in any second, blurting out excuses to explain their lateness. Still, the doors did not open and Sakura and Ino were currently considered missing. He sighed and stirred his drink with a toothpick, wondering when he would run out of patience.

"Yes they are. Sakura wouldn't miss this little get together for the world. She just had to fix a few things up with Ino, maybe that's why she's late," Neji contemplated, wearing a thoughtful expression. Gaara looked at him, raising one eyebrow in question.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. Gaara stopped stirring his drink and finished it, leaving the empty glass on the table for one of the butlers to pick up later. He sat up straighter, planting his feet firmly on the ground.

"I mean that Sakura found out something important last night, and we all need to talk about. We also need to keep her from interfering with anything, and make sure that she understands to keep her distance. It's about time she got over that grudge she has towards Naruto," Neji said, his creamy white eyes focused on one spot on the wall, seeming to be deep in thought. He then glanced down at his hands, trying to think of a way he could make this all work. He could think of nothing that would not leave Sakura screaming with rage.

"What about Ino? What exactly are you talking about, Neji?" Gaara asked, his eyes narrowing. He glanced at him, a suspicious look on his face. He recalled last night, and how they silently had agreed to keep Sakura away from Naruto and his date, Satari. Though now it seemed as if there was something more to it than that. Gaara had spent most of his time playing music for the party, taking requests, trying to keep the drunken Ino away from him, and trying to keep himself from consuming too much alcohol. He had not been paying much attention to the whole issue with Sakura, and had no idea what had happened after he left the rescue team.

Apparently, something of great proportion was found out by Sakura, concerning Naruto and his date. So, they had failed to keep her away from them.

Neji watched Gaara as some realization started to show through his features. Neji decided that he should inform him on what was happening, whether Ino and Sakura were there or not. Now they were twenty-five minutes late.

"Sakura was over Ino's when I called, and she became upset due to Sakura's attitude towards the situation. When I hung up the phone, Sakura was going to try to make Ino her usual cheerful self and come along. I have no idea what happened, so that's probably why they are late," Neji said, his white eyes serene. "Last night, Sakura followed Naruto and his date, which you know by the name Satari." Gaara's eyes narrowed further. The expression on his face was slightly inquisitive as he contemplated what Neji meant by that.

"Simply put, Sasuke is Satari," Neji stated calmly. There had only been a few times in their friendship when Neji had been able to read Gaara like an open book, and this was one of them. For a brief moment, shock showed clearly across the red-head's usually impassive face. Neji could not help but laugh at his friend, his chuckles light and airy. Gaara composed himself hastily and took a deep breath, soaking in the information. It was new knowledge to him, but it seemed that it was old news to Neji.

"So that's why we were keeping Sakura away from the two of them. I assumed it was just because she would try to ruin things for the couple in her jealous rage, but there was more to it than that," Gaara mumbled, talking more to himself than to his friend. He continued, his eyebrows knit together as he looked slightly perplexed. "So they like each other. I don't understand why this needs a whole discussion over it. It's not as if it's a problem."

"I knew you would say that," Neji said, wearing a knowing smirk. "You know that whatever is a problem for Sakura becomes a problem for us, in the long run. We had this get together so I could notify you about this, and I'd rather do it in person than over the phone. Anyway, the main idea of this was to make Sakura understand, and I don't think I would be able to do that alone."

"No one would be able to," Gaara commented, smirking. Neji scoffed, a smirk settling nicely onto his lips. He chuckled and opened his mouth, about to respond to what his friend had said. He was interrupted, though, by the melodious doorbell of the Hyuuga Mansion. The ringing filled the room, not showing any signs of stopping, as the person at the door vigorously pressed the doorbell over and over again. Finally, it halted, only to be replaced by a sharp rapping at the door.

One of the butlers hurried to answer the door, trying to stop the irritating noises as soon as humanly possible. Neji and Gaara glanced at each other from their spots on the leather couches, not moving an inch. They both knew who was at the door. The butler struggled to open the titanic doors while trying to compose himself at the same time. He finally opened the door, and standing there were Sakura and Ino, not to anyone's surprise.

Ino ran in as soon the door was opened enough for a person to fit through, sending the door swinging open and almost knocking down the poor man who was previously holding it open. She rushed towards them, her long ponytail whipping wildly through the air behind her. Ino looked happy as always, radiating cheerfulness. The smile on her face appeared to be genuine, but there was something else. Neji's eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her. He could not pinpoint it, but something did not seem right about her.

Ino made a move towards the empty spot on the loveseat that Gaara was currently sitting on. As soon as she had lifted her heel to take a step towards him, his legs were draped across the formerly empty spot, a bored look on his face. Neji laughed and Ino pouted, settling for a large black chair. Sakura stepped into the mansion, her high-heeled shoes clicking as she walked across the marble floors. She looked better than Neji had expected, especially if her discovery had affected her as much as he thought it had.

Though as she walked, there was a look of disbelief in her emerald eyes.

She took a seat beside Neji and sat quietly. Gaara and Neji both looked at her, noting the difference in her behavior.

"You're late," Gaara said simply, glancing between the two girls.

Ino simply shrugged as if it was nothing and sank into the large chair, her arms hanging off the sides of the seat. "We had stuff that needed to be taken care of," she said in a casual tone.

Sakura lifted her head and brushed her pink hair away from her face. She turned to look at Neji, knowing that he would be staring at her with those eyes. Their gazes met, and she felt as if he could see right through her. "Sorry about that," Sakura murmured.

"It's perfectly fine. I understand," Neji said with a reassuring look, his words sounding sincere and kind.

"So, aren't we here to talk about the party last night? It was pretty sweet, huh? Well, aside from me indulging my sorrows with alcohol, but I always do that," Ino said as she grew comfortable in her chair. She smiled brightly, laughing lightly, her giggles echoing throughout the spacious room. "C'mon, cheer up, Sakura-chan. Before you were so excited to come here. You said that we have a lot to talk about." Ino said, sounding as innocent as driven snow. She stared at Sakura with her large periwinkle eyes, waiting for a response.

Sakura stiffened instantly, staring at Ino with spiteful green eyes. The blonde girl stared at her simply with her usual clueless smile on her face, despite the malice that was evident in her words. Sakura decided to overlook it, but now she knew she was right about there being tremors left over. She relaxed and let her usual confident aura overtake her, her lips forming into a dauntless smile.

"Right. I assume that all of you are aware of what happened last night?" Sakura said with an air of authority, mainly directing her question towards Gaara. He stared at her for a second with his icy eyes, and then nodded. Ino shook her head yes, looking bored with the conversation already. She knew this would happen. Sakura had promised to take it easy, but she was already speaking like she had the power to determine.

"Yes, we all know. But we're not here to discuss the details of it or your opinion on it, Sakura. We assume that one of our best friends, Naruto, is in some sort of relationship with Sasuke, and we need you to respect that," Neji said , jumping straight into the conversation. She looked at him, slightly astonished at what he had said. Sakura could not help but feel a bit offended by that. How was he so sure that she would involve herself in it and try to interfere? Maybe she simply wanted to share their feelings on it.

But she knew that she was feeding herself lies. She wanted to end things for them, so badly, and she did not even know why. She could not answer the question of why she had such an unreasonable, malicious grudge.

Something in Sakura's mind clicked, and she turned to speak to Neji. "How can I stay out of it when there isn't even any relationship to begin with? I heard the words myself. Naruto practically said that the whole night was nothing to him, and that Uchiha kid agreed," Sakura told them, planting her heels firmly on the floor. She may have been stretching the truth slightly, since he only said that on the subject of the kiss, they did not know that.

Ino would have normally been grinning proudly since she was right about what the whole point of this 'meeting' was. Sakura wanted to gossip, but Neji just wanted to talk. But currently, what Sakura was saying was frustrating her, and the idea of smiling triumphantly was completely erased from her mind.

"The only reason why you found that out is because you followed them, you stalked them obsessively all night. It's pathetic, Sakura! And how do we know that you aren't lying just so things go in your favor? There's obviously something there between them, whether you deny it, and hell, even if Naruto and Sasuke deny it!" Ino said, her voice rising in volume. She was angry now, and tightly gripping the armrests of her chair, tense, her feet also planted firmly on the ground. She looked like she was about spring up any second and attack.

Neji and Gaara sat silently, staring at both of the girls. This was certainly not going as they had planned. Five minutes into the conversation and an argument had already started. Five seconds into the argument and the shouting-of-insults had already began.

"Guys, calm down. We're not supposed to be fighting over this. It's not that much of our problem, but you're fighting as if it is," Gaara said, trying to subdue them with his reason.

"Gaara's right. Sakura, Ino, control yourselves," Neji ordered firmly, attempting to catch their attention and stop their feuding. "This is not our business. You are making it our problem when it's not. Allow them to live their lives without us and our opinions getting in the way."

Gaara's and Neji's attempts to calm them were in vain, as their words went in one ear and out the other. Sakura and Ino continued their heated bickering as if the two boys were not present. They focused only on matching the enmity in the other's eyes.

"That's the only way that any of us would've found out. Haven't you noticed? Ever since Uchiha came into the picture, he is focusing on us less, talking to us less, hanging around us less and less. It's always Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," Sakura spat with disgust. By this point in the argument both girls had leapt from their seats and were now standing, facing each other, their bodies tense. "He wouldn't have told us about any of that. He wouldn't have trusted us with that information. And he calls us his friends. Do you understand why I'm so mad now? We are losing him!"

Sakura's yell echoed through the halls of the Hyuuga Mansion. Ino was quiet for a moment, and was staring down at her feet. Her fists were still clenched, but she seemed have calmed down somewhat. Neji and Gaara had stood up, ready to hold back either of the two girls if they had to. Ino exhaled, and shook her head in disappointment.

"Tsk, tsk, Sakura. You keep on speaking in the wrong form. You say these words, 'we' and 'us', that obviously refer to a group including you. How many times do I have to tell you? Naruto is not your friend," Ino stated, staring at her with hardened blue eyes. Another emotion, though, was also present. Gaara did not know if he was mistaken, but he suspected that there were tears building up in the corners of Ino's eyes. No matter how angry she became, Ino remained herself, and fighting with her friends killed her.

"The promise you made only an hour ago is already in vain," Ino said, her voice cracking in mid-sentence, even though she was evidently trying to stay strong. Yet, she still managed to hold eye contact with Sakura. "I don't know why we have to keep on telling you, but it's your own fault, Sakura. You've already lost Naruto."

* * *

Naruto was now certain that he would not last long.

What was he supposed to do? He could not seem to find an answer. He was on a non-official date with Sasuke, even if both of them seemed to know it was a date. And Sasuke accepted that. So what did that mean? What did that kiss last night mean? Thoughts were buzzing through Naruto's head rapidly, making it difficult for him to think straight. He never had a chance to stop and analyze his exact thought, though he did know one thing. He could not rid of the feelings that he had last night: to want to touch Sasuke, to want to kiss him. And he had done so. It was in the moment, he thought, continuing to feed himself lies. When he told himself that, he only felt disappointed in himself, since everything was proving that thought wrong. It was obvious that was not the truth.

Did Sasuke realize that?

This morning he had woken up from dreams of kissing his best friend, which was not normal in his book. Completely erasing his thoughts, he had hastily dressed, then asked Sasuke if he wanted to go out for breakfast. It was amazing how little thinking it had took to simply act on his instinct. He thought everything would be normal like the old times before any of them had romantic feelings towards each other. (At least, Naruto was now fairly certain that he liked Sasuke. Confused, yes, in denial, no. He had no idea what was running through Sasuke's head or how he felt, though) Now he realized how wrong he was.

As soon as it was just the two of them, it became different. Then again, there had never been more than just the two of them. Once they were in Naruto's Diablo and cruising down the road, that had unfortunately left him enough time to sit and think, aside from the light bickering that he still seemed to be able to uphold with his friend. (Not without spacing out on several occasions, though) His thoughts became complicated and tangled, and he feared that he was beginning to over think things.

It was funny what one kiss could change. But it was more than just that. Things had been different between Naruto and Sasuke for quite a while now, and Naruto assumed that last night was just a small push towards realization. Was it a push in the right direction? Although it was not as if that entire night was an accident. Everything was wanted, intended, and he was willing.

It was not like 'Wow. We kissed and I just realized that I have feelings towards you just because of that.' No, never. It was nothing like that.

Engulfed in his thoughts he failed to notice the faint calling of his name echoing in the back of his mind, barely audible to his ears. The voice continued saying his name with growing strength each time, becoming louder and louder each time his name was said. Soon, the person sounded frustrated and almost as if they were angry.

"Naruto...Naruto... Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, trying to catch the said boy's attention. He did not receive a response and Naruto continued to stare ahead with hazy-looking blue eyes. He did not understand what was wrong with him today, or maybe he just did not want to admit to himself that he knew. He sighed and tried again. "Naruto. Dobe. Idiot!" He shouted, grabbing his friend's arm and giving it a shake.

Naruto snapped out of it and fell back down to Earth, whipping his head to the side to stare at the pale hand wrapped around his arm. His stare was not the most inconspicuous one, and Sasuke withdrew his hand quickly, satisfied that he at least had his attention. Now if only he would pay attention to his driving and keep his eyes on the road.

"You passed the restaurant about five minutes ago," Sasuke said, smirking at him superiorly.

"What?" Naruto screeched, slamming on the brakes. The car stopped suddenly and they both jolted forward, their seatbelts preventing them from going flying through the windshield. The tires made a high-pitched, strident cry as they came to a halt, the smell of burnt rubber rising into the air. Sasuke hit the back of his seat hard, feeling slightly dizzy. Whoever gave Naruto a license was a complete idiot.

"Oh my fucking god, I'm sorry, Sasuke," Naruto apologized, sounding concerned. "Are you okay?" He asked, staring at him with those brilliant blue eyes. Sasuke glanced down, not able to meet his gaze, and opened his mouth to answer, but the angry honking of horns interrupted him. Cars zoomed past them, people hanging out of the windows yelling profanities and flipping them off, but for once, Naruto did not seem to notice.

"Just drive before someone approaches the car with a gun," Sasuke settled for saying just that rather than responding to Naruto's previous question. He was strangely touched by Naruto's concern; even if it was his own fault. He decided it would be best if he kept that tidbit of information to himself and away from Naruto and the world's ears. Especially from Naruto.

Naruto scoffed and laughed a bit, a smile gracing his lips. His convivial laugh was music to Sasuke's ears and his smile made his heart beat erratically, but right now all he felt like doing was banging his head against the window continually. His body though, did not respond according to his thoughts, and he found himself chuckling slightly.

Naruto gripped the steering wheel and started to drive again, the people that were stuck behind him letting out a heavy sigh of relief all at once. He came to a light and turned left, doing a sharp u-turn and switching onto the other side of the road, now going in the opposite direction. Within a few minutes they were at their original destination, the restaurant. They would stop serving breakfast soon, so Naruto jumped out of the car as fast as he could, and practically dragged Sasuke out of the car and into the parking lot.

They ran inside (Naruto ran as if his life depended on it. Sasuke was more so casually strolling rather than darting about insanely) and waited a short time to be seated. They ended up sitting in a booth at the back of the restaurant, across from each other, with nowhere to look but the other's face. The waitress gave them two adult menus and then scurried off stuttering with a red face after that was done, obsessing over the boys' good looks.

"Tch. Whore," Sasuke commented, picking up the menu and opening it. Naruto laughed and Sasuke started to read through the meals. Blueberry waffles…the temptation.

"That's not very nice, 'suke, besides, you have nothing to base that off of," Naruto said teasingly, a foxy grin on his face.

Sasuke instantly regretted the moment he lifted his eyes from the menu. He could not help but notice everything.; the spark in his eyes that was somehow visible even through his long blonde bangs, the way his whisker-tattoos curved up whenever he grinned mischievously, and how his defined muscles showed through the smooth material of his shirt.

_Clamp your jaw shut and stop drooling. Uchihas do not have crushes...Uchihas do not have crushes, especially on foxy blonde boys that happen to be your best friend...Uchihas have crus-dammit._

"Oh, come on, Naruto," Sasuke said in his smooth voice, his words rolling perfectly off his tongue. He placed the menu onto the table meticulously, promptly folding his arms over it. Naruto was not sure if he was hallucinating, but his eyes had caught the slightest hint of movement from Sasuke. He was leaning forward. "She rolled up the top of her skirt to make it appear shorter," he scoffed. "Surely you would notice."

"Actually, I didn't notice. I wasn't paying any attention to the waitress, but you, Uchiha-no-hormones-Sasuke, noticed that of all things?" Naruto said, pretending to be surprised. In the back of Sasuke's mind, he was trying to suppress laughter. No hormones? If only he knew. "I think my ways are finally getting to you," Naruto said with a cheeky grin. There was a slight pause and his expression changed from cheerful to nearly pouty. "I'm jealous," Naruto admitted, his voice dropping in volume. Sasuke could not tell whether or not he was sincere.

Sasuke stared at him for a second, unsure of what he meant by that. "Of what?"

"You should be paying attention to me," Naruto said, his smile returning to his face. He looked mischievous and his cerulean eyes were glinting impishly. If that waitress had not been preoccupied with gushing with her female co-workers and had actually taken their drink orders, Sasuke would have been choking on his beverage at this moment. Not only was Naruto's flirting obvious, it was so conspicuous that he must have been flirting intentionally.

That, or he was incredibly unaware of his own actions.

Sasuke realized that Naruto was probably waiting for some sort of response other than dumbstruck. He attempted to compose himself and regain his articulateness, frustrated with himself for not being able to act like the normal, arrogant Sasuke Uchiha with an inability to display any emotion whatsoever (Translation: Emotionally Constipated).

"And why exactly should I?" Sasuke managed, content that he was able to regain his calm, cool, and collected exterior. He arched his eyebrows in question and leaned forward a bit more, waiting for a response.

"I can think of a few reasons," Naruto said cheerily, his tone of voice enlivening. He placed his elbows on the table separating the two boys and propped his head on his hands. He smirked, a smug look on his face.

"Oh, really? Care to share those reasons?" Sasuke inquired, sounding cynical, showing no visible signs of curiosity. Though, really, he was inquisitive. He contemplated what exactly Naruto meant by that.

"Hmm..." Naruto seemed to be thinking, looking at the upper right in thought, his blue eyes looking as lively and innocent as usual. He switched positions and rested one of his arms on the table, tapping his fingers against it repeatedly, while he continued to support his head with his other arm. The whiskered-boy tilted his head to the side slightly and gave Sasuke a wide, toothy smile. "No, not really."

Sasuke stared at him for another moment and then broke eye contact, glancing away from him. "Stupid dobe," he murmured, suddenly becoming self-conscious, a light pink blush coloring his alabaster cheeks. Never in one day had he wanted to mentally slap himself as much as he wanted to today. He was acting flustered, bashful, and entirely unlike himself. Lately he had resembled a school girl more than he would have preferred to. He wondered why he could not return to his normal, apathetic self.

He was not always like this. He found that he could be his old self when he was truly alone, sitting on his bed and staring at a ten-year-old family portrait. Though, ever since he met Naruto, he was rarely alone. He would be helping the boy study for an upcoming exam, or Naruto would be paying him a friendly visit, asking him to go out somewhere with him (and of course he would always say yes). Naruto was everywhere, even in his thoughts and dreams. Ever since he came into the picture, he was virtually Sasuke's entire life.

Sasuke re-evaluated that thought, realization hitting him hard. He would have laughed, but his chuckle was stuck in a lump in his throat. It was just inconceivable how right that thought was. As if the Uchiha had anything to really live for before he came along, enduring his miserable life day by day.

"Sasuke? I said, 'What do you want to eat?'" Naruto repeated, trying to get a response out of him. Sasuke blinked rapidly for a moment and then stared at the blond, whose shoulders were shaking with silent and suppressed laughter. He realized that the slutty waitress had returned and was waiting to take his order, a notepad and pen in her hands. She stared at him expectantly, with huge, hopeful eyes, as if she was going to receive a request other than Sasuke's breakfast order.

"So that's your name?" The waitress managed to squeal out.

"Your strongest coffee, please. Blueberry waffles, no syrup, and barely any butter," Sasuke said, looking bored with the world at large, completely ignoring her previous comment. She nodded, collected the menus, and scurried off, but not without hovering at their table for a moment, staring at them with eager eyes. They both turned to look at each other, and as soon as their eyes met and they saw the expression on the other's face, they started to laugh.

"Dude, you were right about the skirt thing," Naruto said, leaning back into the booth. Sasuke smirked, looking exultant, I-Told-You-So written all over his face. Naruto could only grin sheepishly in response to that. Besides, it was not as if he became irritated when he received that look from Sasuke anymore. He actually had taken quite a liking to that superior smirk that was reserved for him.

Simply put, Naruto thought it was very sexy.

"And," Naruto started, "it seems as if I'm not the only one who's spacey today." With that comment he smiled, mirroring the smirk Sasuke gave him a few moments ago. Sasuke froze and slowly turned to face Naruto head-on, his dark eyes narrowing. "What were you thinking about?" He prodded, tilting his head to the side. He smiled at him knowingly, as if he could read minds. Who cares if Naruto looked absolutely irresistible? Sasuke did not.

At least, that is what he kept on telling himself.

"What were you thinking about?" Sasuke retorted, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. They sat still for a few moments, eyeing each other with glares, both silently refusing to say anything or actually answer the question that they were asked. Minutes passed by and they stayed like that, and Naruto could not take it anymore. He turned his head to the side and looked away, hiding a small, content smile.

"Oh, nothing," Naruto said dishonestly, in a way that any one that heard it would immediately know that it was a lie. Sasuke could not keep himself from conspicuously staring at him, an innumerable amount of thoughts racing through his mind. What exactly did he mean by that? Naruto waved his hand in the air dismissively and decided to change to topic. He turned to face his friend and resumed his previous position, elbows on the table and his head propped on his hands.

"You know, Sasuke, I'm just happy we're able to talk like old times," he started, his voice so low it was almost a whisper. Sasuke strained to hear his barely audible words, and had to lean in closer so he could understand what Naruto was saying. "Truthfully, after last night I was afraid..." Naruto trailed off, stopping himself from saying anything more. He groaned inwardly, mentally slapping himself for his endless stupidity. He had been having a perfectly normal conversation with Sasuke, and he just had to go ahead and ruin it by expressing his thoughts on last night. Naruto sighed, and cursed himself for always having to wear his heart on his sleeve. He had not even noticed that it had slipped out, or realized how much he actually wanted to talk about it.

He lifted his head and peered at Sasuke from behind the curtain of his overgrown bangs. He was surprised at how close the Uchiha was to him, since he figured that Sasuke would be trying to keep as much distance between them as possible. He almost smiled. _I guess I was wrong, huh? _He studied the other boy's expression and body language, looking for any thing that could help him understand what was currently running through Sasuke's mind. Sasuke's brows were knit and he looked thoughtful, but there was a hint of something else there. Whether it was anger or annoyance, Naruto could not tell.

Their eyes met and Naruto found no answers in his obsidian eyes, but that was expected. It was not as if Sasuke was an open book, like he was.

"Since when did times start becoming old, Naruto?" Sasuke asked in a harsh whisper. He pursed his lips and paused for a minute, thinking. "What exactly is the point in our friendship that separates the old from the new?" He pressed, scrutinizing the boy sitting directly across from him.

Naruto inhaled deeply and glanced down, only to notice that their food and drinks were set on the table, still warm and untouched. He lifted his head and turned to see that their waitress was on the other side of the restaurant, leading a couple to a table. She must have delivered their food just recently, and they had not even noticed. Naruto had not realized how absorbed into their conversation they had become, or how easy it was to entirely focus on Sasuke and nothing else.

"Oh, what do you know, the food is here!" Naruto exclaimed half-heartedly, trying to distract not only Sasuke, but himself. He picked up his fork and knife and cut a chunk from his pancakes, shoving it into his mouth and concentrating extra hard on chewing. Sasuke stared at him for a moment and then did the same, tasting his waffle. Even though Sasuke had not forgotten about the conversation at all, and was determined to get back on topic as soon as possible, he had to admit that the waffle was delicious.

"I have to admit Naruto, this is great...Thanks for asking me out," Sasuke said in mid-bite. He continued to chew his food and then stopped short and froze, realizing what he said. He forced himself to swallow and then cleared his throat. "To eat," he added hastily, stabbing his fork into another chunk of his waffle and twirling it around idly, "thanks for taking me out to eat." Sasuke repeated, trying to compose himself.

Naruto laughed and gave him that knowing smile of his, his cerulean eyes sparkling devilishly. "I knew you would like this place, well-at least I hoped that you would. And it's great that you do. Y'know, that makes me pretty happy. I'm glad," Naruto started, and Sasuke could sense that one of his pointless rants was starting. Naruto cut another piece of his syrup-covered pancakes and stuffed it in his mouth. "We could come here again some other time. They have a pretty great lunch and dinner here too, y'know. I found this place one day when I was aimlessly wandering the streets of Konoha City's restaurant row, looking for a good place to eat..." He continued to babble on, telling Sasuke information that he would never use, nor that he cared about.

Actually, he did not take any notice of what he was saying, since he was paying much more attention to the line of syrup dribbling from the corner of Naruto's mouth.

"Naruto, you have a little something-," Sasuke started, interrupting his chattering. He leaned over a bit more and wiped the sticky substance from the corner of Naruto's mouth with his thumb.

"Wha-?" Naruto said, unable to finish. For once, he was the one blushing a bright scarlet. Ever so slowly, Sasuke lowered his hand away from Naruto's face, but it had lingered there so long, it could almost be called caressing. Also, it was sort of hard to miss that Sasuke had unknowingly stretched across the entire table just to reach Naruto. Now it was Sasuke's turn to turn a nice shade of red. Blue eyes met black. Their faces were only a few inches apart, and all it would take was the slightest movement forward to close the gap. Naruto was stiff, but Sasuke seemed to be more relaxed then he was just a few seconds ago. Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but his words were stuck in his throat and he found himself inarticulate. He did not miss that when he had pursed his lips, Sasuke's hazy dark eyes had darted down to stare at them. At least he had some idea of what he was thinking.

_Kiss him._

_All it would take is moving your head one little inch..._Naruto became tenser, unable to move forward, or away, for that matter. No, he was not going to kiss his best friend, in a public restaurant, the morning after they had kissed at the party, when his said friend was practically lying across a table. But there he was. They were so close that Sasuke could feel Naruto's sugary sweet breath on his face, and the Uchiha found himself leaning forward and slowly closing his eyes. Naruto swallowed hard and stared at the Sasuke's face for a second, before leaning forward and tilting his head to the side. That was all it took.

Their lips barely touched, just brushing against each other the slightest bit. Naruto's heart sky rocketed and he closed his eyes, slowly, hesitantly starting to apply some pressure against Sasuke's lips. Sasuke almost gasped, never had something sweet tasted so good to him. Naruto nibbled on Sasuke's bottom lip and was starting to lift his arms from their resting place on the table, planning to entangle them in the boy's raven hair.

"Hi, guys, do you need anyt-Ohmygosh!" The waitress appeared, her face turning bright red as she observed the scene before her. She dropped her notepad and pen onto the floor in her surprise and instead of picking them up, she used her hands to cover her mouth. Naruto and Sasuke's romantic moment came to a screeching halt and they both quickly pulled away from each other, practically attaching themselves to their respective sides of the booth. The waitress stuttered and realized that she was staring, and quickly dropped down to the floor and began collecting her dropped items. "Oh-er-excuse me, I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I hope you two are enjoying your meals. I'll just-just gather my shit and I'll be on my way," she mumbled, jumping back up. "I'll come back with the bill in a bit."

Naruto and Sasuke did not say anything, nor do anything, and just waited for her to scurry away. Once she was gone, an awkward silence formed between the two. They simply stared at each other, each with an equally red face, racking their brains for something, anything to say during this uncomfortable moment. Naruto appeared to be the first to think of something, since he had stood up from his seat and was now lingering near the edge of the table.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom..." He said awkwardly, pointing to the restrooms behind him, but not making any move to actually do so. Sasuke barely managed a nod and then looked down, away from Naruto, and started to meticulously cut his blueberry waffle, putting all of his attention into it.

Naruto gawked at him for a moment, and then finally turned around and tried his hardest not to run towards the restroom. He wanted to hit himself over the head continually for his stupidity, and wanted to get rid of the dry and sickly sweet taste in his mouth. He started breathing in quick, shallow breaths and realized how frantic he must look to the people surrounding him. But that was perfectly fine, because he was frantic.

He started to walk faster, but had to slow or else he would have crashed into the waiter in front of him. He was speaking to an ominous looking man in a dark cloak, asking him how many people were with him, though it was obvious that he was completely and utterly alone.

"Table for two, please. I'm expecting someone a bit later," he said, his voice sounding smooth and dangerous. The waiter nodded, and Naruto could tell that he was intimidated by the dark-haired man, but the most frightening thing about him certainly was not his size. It was the manner in which he stared at someone, with his dark, hidden eyes, that almost looked red in the lighting of the restaurant. It was the way he carried himself, as if he was hiding something behind his cloak. He was utterly apathetic and uncaring, and everything about him made Naruto's brain scream with warnings. But he did not move and became stiff like stone, his feet firmly glued to the spot in which he stood.

"Right this way, sir," the waiter said, leading him to a table on the far side of the restaurant. Away from where Naruto and Sasuke were sitting. The two walked towards him, and Naruto's body refused to move. They crossed paths with him, and as they passed by, Naruto got a good look at his face. He had dark circles under his eyes, as if he rarely slept, and long black hair that surrounded his face and was tied at the nape of neck. And as he walked by, for a brief second, their gazes met.

Things seemed to slow down and Naruto could clearly hear his own heartbeat slowly throbbing. His gaze was just as threatening as everything else about him, and Naruto felt a stab of fear. There was something wrong about that him, and something utterly familiar. Time sped up again and the black-haired man slowly and gracefully turned away, the brief, yet dangerous, second coming to an end.

Suddenly, realization hit him. He slowly turned and glanced back over his shoulder, staring at the table in the far corner where Sasuke was sitting. The resemblance was uncanny.

_Itachi._

* * *

(A/N): If Sasuke isn't supposed to like blueberry waffles, guess what, HE DOES NOW, BITCH! I'm also sure that he has _suddenly_ developed a taste for syrup.

There was much more fighting than I intended in this chapter. And it was basically all between Ino and Sakura. Actually, I didn't intend for anyone to be problematic in this chapter (excluding Sakura) when I first started writing it. But I got all into it and made everyone start screaming at each other. So this entire chapter was impromptu.

Well, with all the new crap that I made happen and the whole little Tsunade's Party mini-arc that I introduced, most of you people probably forgot about Naruto's promise to take Sasuke surfing. Well, guess what! That's next chapter! It's gonna be a nice, light & humorous one, with fluffiness and stuff. Seriously, this fic is gonna need it. Dx


	14. Surf's Up

If this chapter had a theme song, it would totally be Surfin U.S.A by The Beach Boys. A sexy, sexy blonde hair-do...(I changed the lyrics :D)

C'monnn, c'mon! 500 reviews! DO IT.

**SMILE  
**

_Disclaimer_: I own nothing. Except the plot. Yep. Pretty damn sure I own the plot. But I'd love to own Naruto-kun. (grin)

_Warnings_: **NaruSasu**, yaoi/shounen-ai, profanities, freakishly long chapters, an easy-to-follow surfing lesson (cough), and soaking wet hot guys.

_Review pretty please :3_

* * *

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: SURF''S UP**

Naruto was lying idly on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He could not count how many times he had caught himself doing this lately: it was innumerable. He blinked his blue, hazy eyes that were barely even open. Normally, he would be incredibly active, out about the town, never running out of things to do, a smile always present on his face. Then, there would barely be any time for thought. Yet, that was the only thing he seemed to do now. There was just too much going on at once, and he could not help but become engulfed in his own thoughts. Naruto spread his arms out, his hands dangling off the side of the bed limply, wearing a rare expression of sincerity and introspectiveness. He let out a quiet sigh, but in the silence of his room it seemed be much louder than it really was. Slowly, he closed his eyes and rested, letting himself be absorbed by his own mind.

He had his iPod headphones in his ears, but he barely noticed them. Without opening his eyes, he reached down and turned the device on, and Death Cab for Cutie began to play, though it was lost to his ears. The music seemed faint and distant; it was barely something to make note of as memories and events raced through his mind. Instantly, his thoughts went to the other day when he had asked Sasuke out for breakfast and they had kissed for the second time. He did not know exactly how long ago that was, he had stopped keeping track of the days, but he assumed that it was about a week. But he did not know when it occurred, only what had occurred. They had kissed, and there was nothing to blame it on. He could not claim that it was nothing, just like he did the night before that.

It was the exact opposite of nothing. And how could a kiss where they stared at the other for long seconds, realizing and contemplating what they were about to do, be accidental? It could only be intentional. But Sasuke seemed to ignore that like it had never happened. Naruto would have laughed at the irony; now he understood how Sasuke must have felt the night of the party, when it was so obvious that he had feelings for him, but could not admit them. If Sasuke liked him back, that is. He had to.

He kissed Naruto right back.

He did not understand what exactly was wrong. All of Sasuke's actions towards him made absolutely no sense; they were just mixed messages to him. He acted as if he was unsure of what he felt, but then he put himself out there, silently asking Naruto to kiss him. Maybe it was not as clear to him as it was to Naruto. He now had no doubt about it; he knew that he liked Sasuke. He felt so strongly about him, he could even call it love, but he could barely admit the latter in his own mind.

After Naruto had returned from his little trip to the bathroom (he did not even have to use the restroom. It was simply an excuse to escape the awkward atmosphere and the strange conversation, or lack thereof, which would be sure to follow, even if he knew he had to face Sasuke and say something when he returned. He was simply delaying it, and possibly making things worse) he was tempted to tell the Uchiha about his long-lost, homicidal, weasel of a brother, but he refrained himself from doing so.

Besides, he had other issues that needed to be addressed at that moment.

Sasuke had already finished his coffee and waffle, and murmured a 'hello' when Naruto returned. He kept his head low the whole time, always avoiding the other boy's cerulean eyes. It was as if he did not want to like Naruto. Naruto had quickly finished his food and, as promised, he paid for the entire meal. The two headed back to their 'homes', driving in silence the entire way. To Naruto, Sasuke just seemed to be incredibly embarrassed, and was in the middle of a raging war within himself. Naruto was somewhat angry, and not to mention disappointed, hoping that Sasuke would just say something, and possibly, admit something.

_Well_, he thought, _I guess_ _I'll just have to help him sort out his feelings. I can't take this anymore, I've got to say something...Soon, I'll do it soon...Because if I don't do anything soon, this will go nowhere. We'll be forever caught between being friends and being more than that. Right now, as it is, it's like we're unofficially dating...Should I do it today? Could I...?_

Naruto's eyes fluttered open and he sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning tiredly. He glanced at his digital clock and realized that an hour had passed in what felt like a mere second. He must have fallen asleep. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and realized that he heard no music, and that his iPod was dead. After untangling himself from the wires, he stood up and wandered over to the window. Rays of sunshine were slipping through his blinds in thin golden slivers, partially illuminating the dark room. He turned and glanced at his surfboard resting against the wall in a corner of his room, and his eyes widened slightly as an idea came to mind.

He never did take Sasuke surfing as he had wanted. Slowly, he grinned, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It seemed as if Sasuke would not have to wait any longer, though he probably had forgotten by now. Naruto would take him to the beach today and teach him how to surf; .it would be perfect. Maybe at some point, if the timing was right, he could pull Sasuke aside and talk to him about all those times when they had crossed the line separating friendship and a romantic relationship. If things went well, by the end of the day, he could have Sasuke as his boyfriend.

Repeating that thought once more in his mind, a smile formed on his face. Just thinking that made him excited. He could hardly believe how close to being real that thought was. In the back of his mind, a little dude was doing a happy dance.

Naruto almost danced in real life as he hopped back over to the window with renewed energy. He yanked on a string and pulled the blinds up, the sun shining brightly through his window and brightening the entire room. He wondered if he should call Sasuke first and ask if he was doing anything, but then there was a chance that he would refuse his invitation. But then again, he never did that. Naruto settled for just showing up with his board in hand, ready to hit the beach.

He turned on his television as he sauntered to his closet, and began to dig through the heap of clothing, trying to determine what was clean and what was dirty. As he searched, he listened to the weather report, and it sounded as if today was the perfect day to hit the beach and ride some waves. Naruto smiled to himself, glad that his idea was already working out. He sifted through his clothing and found his wet suit, and held it out in front of him. He stared at it for a moment, and decided that they both could handle a little cold water. He ditched the suit for a much sexier pair of board shorts which barely clung to his hips.

Besides, it was not as if they would be doing any serious surfing today. (Unless, of course, Naruto felt like showing off) Today would mainly consist of attempting to teach Sasuke to surf, watching him fall off the surf board multiple times in a row, laughing his ass off, looking sexy, and asking Sasuke out. And none of that really required a wet suit, so all was good.

And, not to mention (or sound extremely perverted), a wet suit would definitely not be needed for the events that followed Sasuke becoming Naruto's boyfriend. Actually, no clothes would be needed.

Naruto shoved that thought out of his mind, and attempted sending it to a place where it would be far more suited. For example, the gutter. Pushing all thoughts aside and clearing his mind, Naruto started to prepare for his day at the beach. He packed a bag of useless beach stuff, making sure to bring extra bottles of sun tan lotion for Sasuke and his pale skin. He tossed his frog wallet into the bag so they would have money for lunch (and maybe dinner?), and slipped on his flip-flops, then went into the bathroom to gussy up and get a good look at himself. After that was accomplished, he dug through his closet, yet again, and found his old board, deciding that he would use this one and let Sasuke his own. He grabbed his own perfectly-waxed board and headed out the door.

It was a short walk down the hallway to Sasuke's room, but during that stroll Naruto somehow found time to grow doubtful and contemplate whether he was being overconfident. Then again, it only took one second for all his worries to come back. He stopped in front of Sasuke's door and rested one of the boards against the wall beside it, and held the other in his hand. It didn't matter if Sasuke was unsure of his feelings, because Naruto was. It was incredibly obvious; he could tell that Sasuke felt the same way. So where was the problem?

Naruto began to go through the regular routine, and started by knocking on his door and preparing a bright, genuine smile.

Sasuke looked up from the book he was reading, startled, and stared at the door. The knocking persisted, and he knew that it could only be one person. No matter what, Naruto never failed to surprise him. And here Sasuke was, contently reading one of his favorite pieces of literature, never expecting his favorite blond dobe to come rapping at his door. Had he no sense of dignity? Or maybe he was just plain dense. A normal person would have avoided him for a good while if what happened between him and Naruto happened to them. He realized, though, that a normal person would have avoided and him completely in the first place. _So_, Sasuke concluded, a small smile on his face, _I guess Naruto isn't very normal._

He slammed his book shut, placed it on a night table beside the chair in which he sat, and stood up. He inhaled deeply, preparing to open the door. For him, at least, this was going to be incredibly awkward. He had no idea how he was going to react when he saw Naruto's bright and smiling face. After all, last time they had seen each other, they had kissed. And the day before that, too. Inwardly, Sasuke shook his head at himself with disapproval. If that was how it had been happening, then what was in store for today?

The rapping at his door continued, and it did not seem like Naruto would be giving up on him any time soon. Sasuke had no idea what was his motivation, and why he continued to come back, and continued to try. This time he sighed aloud and extended his arm to open the door, and saw that he was shaking. Sasuke wondered what the hell Naruto could want.

_You._

Sasuke ignored the obvious answer to his question and swung open the door. He wore his usual arrogant smirk on his face. He opened his mouth to greet Naruto and ask what the hell he was doing here, but he became a little distracted. He noticed the surfboard, his sexy, foxy grin, his bare chest and his very low-slung board shorts. Sasuke knew that he was staring, but that didn't stop him from continuing to do that.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto greeted, his enthusiasm clearly showing through his voice. He smirked when he saw that Sasuke was staring at him. Naruto whistled to get his friends attention and then gestured, telling Sasuke to look up. "I'm up here," he said, still grinning haughtily. Sasuke snapped out of it and he quickly raised his head so that he was staring at Naruto directly. He tried to make eye contact, but he was clearly struggling.

"We're going surfing," Sasuke commented, making an observation. It was not a question. He was somewhat surprised that Naruto had actually remembered and planned to fulfill that promise he made about two months ago. He had even forgotten about it himself.

"I'll take that as a yes from you," Naruto said, grinning impishly. "You better get ready. We want to beat the crowd."

Sasuke looked at him for a second, then nodded, and turned promptly around and started to open drawers and gather some objects for the beach, all without saying a word. Naruto chuckled and invited himself in, plopping down on Sasuke's meticulously made bed, wrinkling the covers in the process. He placed his hands behind his head in a relaxed fashion and intently watched his friend as he tossed stuff in a dark blue bag, grabbed a large quantity of sun block and a pair of board shorts, and walked into his bathroom, closing (and locking) the door behind him.

Naruto pouted. It was not as if he was a creepy molester. He sunk down so that his head was on Sasuke's pillow, and he occupied himself by inhaling the other boy's scent until he returned. It still smelled as peachy as ever. The door to the bathroom opened and Naruto sat up, watching Sasuke as he walked toward him. He looked whiter than usual, due to the thick layer of lotion that he had applied to keep his skin from burning. Sasuke bent down to pick up his bag and he swung it over his shoulder. After making sure the strap was secure across his shoulder, he straightened himself and stood, only to end up staring directly at Naruto. Not to mention that he was stretched out across Sasuke's bed, which gave way to very interesting mental images in his mind.

"Ready?" Naruto asked, even though he could clearly see that Sasuke was all set to go. "You're gonna be using my surfboard, okay? I'm gonna use my old one." He sat up and practically sprang up from the bed and into a standing position, landing right in front of Sasuke. He smiled down at him hopefully, awaiting a response.

"Alright, sounds good," Sasuke said with a curt nod. It may not have shown, but truthfully, Sasuke could feel excitement building up within him. He placed one hand on Naruto's chest, pushing him out of his way, and started to head out the door. His hand was tingling from the brief contact with the blonde's warm skin. He slowed his walk and turned his head to the side slightly, so that he could glance back at Naruto. "You coming? Let's go."

"Way ahead of ya," Naruto said cheerily, bolting out the door and past Sasuke. He grabbed his old surf board and quickly snatched up his bag, and then ran down the hallway as fast he could while still carrying all that weight, laughing loudly the entire time. Sasuke stopped and was staring down the long corridor, and he was no longer able to see Naruto, though he could still hear his laughter echoing throughout the halls. He shrugged and picked up his friend's surf board, and decided that just this once, he would play along with Naruto's games.

After all, it was not as if his doing that was going to hurt anybody.

Sasuke smirked and ran down the hallway quickly, determined to catch up to Naruto.

* * *

Sakura grumbled various things to herself as she gripped the steering wheel of her car tightly, shouting profanities at anyone who tried to mess with her on the road, and flipping off any one who looked at her the wrong way. She was just not in the mood, and the traffic jam she was stuck in was not helping. Everyone was in a rush to get to the beach today, since the weather had unexpectedly turned out to be so warm. She was heading in the same direction as everyone else, but not for the same reason. She simply wanted to purchase some alcohol, and her favorite liquor store happened to be by the shore.

She leaned back and tapped her fingers impatiently on the top of the steering wheel. She was so glad that she had decided to put the top up on her convertible car today, and would have enjoyed the privacy more, and not to mention the silence, if she was not so angry. That's right, her car. Ino and Sakura no longer shared it. Sakura had been perfectly fine with sharing, even when they were still technically quarreling, yet Ino had gone ahead and bought herself a new, silver BMW with daddy's fucking money. Ino had said that it was about time she bought a car of her own, and that Sakura could keep the Corvette.

Well then, that was fine with her. She did not have to listen to blaring rap and hip-hop every day, and could actually go somewhere without attracting to much attention to herself, aside from the fact that her car was a vibrant shade of magenta, and her hair was bubble-gum pink. And the driver of the car would never randomly stand up in her seat and start dancing to the delight or annoyance of everyone at a stoplight, since now Sakura was driving.

In all sincerity, she thought that Ino was taking all of this too seriously. (Though she knew that she was not one to talk) It was not even Ino's problem, though Sakura had to admit, she sort of might have forced it upon her...just a little bit. Now this issue was creating a problem between the two girls, and Sakura still called them friends, though they did not act like it. They had not hung out alone since they fought with each other. Sometimes, Ino followed her around like her shadow, trying to keep her in check.

Fyi, _miss Yamanaka, I'm fine fending for myself. I don't need you at my heels like a lost puppy._ Sakura sneered. Why did she pick Naruto's side anyway? They were supposed to be best friends, but Ino was ruining all of that for a person who barely even talked to any of them anymore. To her, it made absolutely no sense.

She had not realized it, but the traffic had started to move, and there was now a large space of open road in front of her car. The people stuck behind her honked their horns angrily, and Sakura jumped to slam on the gas, her car suddenly lurching forward, shooting down the road like a bullet. Soon enough she had to come to a screeching halt, since she was stuck in traffic once more. She sighed, frustrated and bored, resting her head against the window. She peered into the not-so-far-off distance, and noticed that she was roughly a block from the Konoha City College.

Yet another reminder of her problems.

She continued to stare ahead, and noticed that the cars ahead of her were honking their horns. Well, that was typical for a traffic jam, but the hanging-out-of-their-windows-and-woo-ing was new. _Huh, I wonder what's going on._ Sakura tried to get a better look and rolled down one of her windows, sticking her head out. It appeared to be a blonde guy running down the street with very little clothing and a surfboard, from what she could tell. Then a black-and-white guy came darting out of the building, chasing after him.

Sakura put two and two together and figured that those two men were Naruto and Sasuke.

On impulse, she pressed the gas pedal hard, attempting to drive to them as fast as she could, and maybe run one of them over, if she was lucky. She ended up having to slam on the breaks as hard as humanly possible to keep herself from crashing into the car in front of her. Oh yeah, she was in stuck in traffic. She had forgotten about that little factor. Sakura sighed, extremely exasperated, and decided that she would just have to wait the jam out in her car, turn around, get changed for the beach (so that it looked as if she was there just by mere coincidence), drive back, and destroy their relationship. All in a day's work.

She ignored the fact that not only did that sound entirely insane, and beyond obsessive and infatuated, it would take a very long time, considering that her car still had not moved an inch.

* * *

Naruto stood up and spit the sand out of his mouth, shaking his head, sending the tiny grains flying through the air. He tried to brush his already sandy and disheveled (though his hair always looked mussed up. He sure knew how to work the just-got-out-of-bed look) hair away from his face, so he could rub the sand out of his eyes. He shook his head, but his golden, overgrown bangs stayed in front of his eyes. Naruto could not believe that he had tripped and fell flat on his face. Apparently, he had overestimated his ability to stop short when running at fast speeds in flip-flops. He ignored the itchy and uncomfortable feeling that now engulfed his sand-coated body and stood up, gathering the things he had dropped. He was just thankful that he had not been injured by the surfboard he was carrying when he fell.

He realized that people were staring at him, but to him that was trivial. Right now, all his attention (and not to mention ardor) was solely focused on one person. And currently, that person was laughing at him. Sasuke eased into a leisurely stroll and approached Naruto, snickering at him and his clumsiness. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him and attempted to get the remainder of the sand off his body. Sasuke watched in amusement as his friend struggled, and he could not help but notice how the brilliant sunlight was shattering off the tiny grains of sand on his skin into hundreds of crystal shards. He did not know whether to laugh or to gawk. Naruto's tanned skin was practically glittering.

"Nice one, dobe. Need any help?" Sasuke offered, smirking at him smugly. Naruto decided to ignore him and proceeded on with walking towards the endless, vast ocean, looking for a good spot to dump all of his stuff.

"Don't be acting so high and mighty. I do recall that you're the one who needs help learning how to surf from moi," Naruto said pointedly, smirking at him elatedly.

"Moot point," Sasuke said with reluctance. Naruto flashed a dazzling smile at him and turned back around and continued to search for a suitable spot. Sasuke frowned and followed him, angry with himself for being so easily affected by Naruto's radiant smile. He quickly forgot about that as excitement, nervousness, and apprehension built up within him with every step they took toward the sea. Even though the water was fairly calm and did not look intimidating at all to the average person, he could still see the danger there. Or maybe it was just the mental image of him falling of the surf board continually that made it seem hazardous.

"Drop your stuff right here," Naruto told him, and let his bag slide off of his bare shoulder. It hid the ground with a loud thud. He stabbed one end of his surfboard into the sand and then began to sift through his bag, looking for his board wax. Sasuke watched him for a few seconds and then proceeded with literally dropping his stuff onto the sand. He tried to dig his board into the ground so it was standing up like Naruto's, and he finally got it in after a few miserable attempts. He had not even hit the water and it was already becoming difficult.

Why had he wanted to learn again?

The exact reason for that was unknown to Sasuke. Maybe it was because Naruto surfed, and it was a hobby of his, and if Sasuke learned, he would be able to spend more time with him. Sasuke frowned; he could not believe how pathetic he was. He had wanted to be with Naruto and he did not even know it. Naruto finally found the wax and sprung back up to a standing position, snapping Sasuke out of his reverie.

"Alright, let me just quickly apply a lil' wax to this old board and then we'll hit the waves! But first I gotta show you how to do a few things..." Naruto said, seeming to be lost in thought. He shrugged and quickly waxed the board before Sasuke could really get into his gawking. This dobe was going to be his surfing teacher? What the hell was he thinking? No wonder he did not have any feeling of security. Naruto finished and tossed it into his bag, and then yanked his board out of the ground and placed it carefully on the sand. Sasuke did the same, putting the fox demon surf board down right next to Naruto's. After he was finished with that, he looked up at his friend, waiting for instructions on what to do next.

Naruto simply stared down at him, wearing a face of sincerity, for once. Sasuke scrutinized him, deciding that it was possible that he could actually be taking this seriously. Ever so slowly, a grin appeared on the blonde's face, his white teeth showing and his whisker-tattoos curving into arches. He walked over to Sasuke and stood behind him, an impish glint lighting his sapphire eyes. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke and rested his head on his shoulder, using the opportunity to inhale Sasuke's scent. The feeling of his hands on his smooth alabaster skin was not too bad either.

_Oh, I'm _so_ evil_. Naruto grinned as he felt Sasuke stiffen underneath his loose hold. _And being way too flirty...oh well, I'm not going to limit myself anymore..._

"What the fuck are you doing?" Sasuke managed to say, staying rigid. He could feel Naruto shaking with his content chuckles. How was this part of the surfing lesson? Naruto did not let go of him, and he still had his head placed on his shoulder. Through Sasuke's peripheral vision he could see that he was so close to him that blond hair was becoming entwined with his own black hair. His dark eyes narrowed and he remained stiff. He was so perplexed by his behavior. _Why do you always have to mess with me like this, Naruto?_

"Step one," Naruto said, releasing him. Sasuke did not move, unsure of what he meant by that, and began to turn to face him, a questioning expression on his face. Though in the midst of his movement he felt hands on his back and Naruto pushed him forward abruptly, sending Sasuke flying toward golden sand. He managed to catch himself and regain his balance before he landed face-first into the ground.

"Okay then, your left leg is your leading foot, so we're gonna have to attach the leash to your right foot," Naruto mused, and started to walk back to the surfboards laying on the sandy surface. Sasuke just stared at him, and did not know whether he should be confused, angry, amused, or flustered. So he just seemed to settle for all four. Surprise, surprise; there was actually a purpose to the awkward (at least on his part) hug-like maneuver.

Sasuke just stared at Naruto's bare back. He was insane.

"Are you going to come or what? Or did I surprise you?" Naruto said with a haughty smirk on his face, his voice oozing with mockery. He laughed and Sasuke snapped out of it, and walked over to his surfboard with an ominous glower on his face. "Did I scare the big, bad Uchiha?"

"Shut it, dobe, or the next thing you know things might start mysteriously breaking," Sasuke growled, making sure that his threat was clearly understood. Naruto just looked at him with a pouty expression and batted his eyelashes, radiating innocence. It seemed as if the infamous Uchiha Death Glare was not getting through his dense skull anymore. Maybe after receiving it so many times, Naruto developed some sort of immunity, because he did not even seem fazed by the venomous look. He finally dropped the glower and watched his friend expectantly.

Naruto laughed, never expecting Sasuke to give up on glaring at him. Usually he was so unrelenting and determined to hold that furious stare. "Fine. I'll stop bothering you, just because I like my limbs," he said, beaming cheerfully at Sasuke. "Even though, it's sorta cute when you get all pissy like that, in a messed-up emo kinda way," Naruto added quickly, and the hopped onto his surfboard. He lowered his head to look where he was positioning his feet, his sun-kissed hair falling into his face and hiding his eyes. Sasuke just stared at him, not sure if he should glare again (and be called cute? I think not) or be flattered. He said nothing, caught between bewilderedness and antagonism.

"Just mimic what I do. It's easy, m'kay?" Naruto said-no, ordered-and watched as Sasuke stepped onto his surfboard hesitantly. He shifted back and forth between his feet, attempting to get used to the feel of the board. He looked up and Naruto was staring at him with that same sobriety. Was he really thinking so seriously about teaching him how to surf, or was it something else? Sasuke pushed that thought aside as Naruto bent over and attached the leash to his back leg. Sasuke did the same quickly.

Naruto then straightened himself and bent his knees a bit, sticking his arms out for balance, and re-positioned his feet. Sasuke copied him. Naruto grinned and then started spastically dancing, trying to see if his friend would still copy him. Sasuke rolled his eyes and smacked Naruto on his arm, chuckling. "Naruto, this isn't 'Simon Says'."

"Oh, well, I tried. Two points for effort," Naruto said with a shrug and then smiled sheepishly, shirking away from another hit.

"Alright, are we done with the practicing-on-land shit yet?" Sasuke asked, growing impatient. Naruto undid the leash around his ankle and stepped off the board, picking it up off the ground. Sasuke mimicked him and stuck the fox-demon board in the sand beside him.

"Oh? Eager, are we?" Naruto said, laughing. He stopped to glance around the beach and scrutinize the sea, recalling if there was anything else they had to do before they disappeared into the opaque water. "Let's stretch, and you apply more sunscreen," Naruto advised, eyeing Sasuke's ghostly white skin. "And just so you know, you're not going to catch a wave immediately. It's going to take tons of tries before you successfully ride one without instantly falling off. Oh, and there's gonna be a lot of falling, that is. It's gonna hurt, and you better pray that you're an excellent, practically half-fish, swimmer. You're going to be sore tomorrow like you were your first time," He finished, grinning at him perversely.

Sasuke tried to absorb all of that at once, and decided instead of standing there dumbfounded, he should be applying more sun tan lotion. He looked away from Naruto, his cheeks turning the lightest shade of red, even though one could assume it was simply the heat of the sun, and not Sasuke blushing. After he practically coated himself in the lotion and had reviewed his friend's words, he finally turned to face him again. _What first time?_ Sasuke thought sardonically

"Witness the scene before you!" Naruto shouted, turning a few heads. They quickly went back to their own business when they realized it was just an obnoxious, blond surfer. Naruto ran over to Sasuke's side and cupped his hands around his face. Sasuke's breath hitched and his heartbeat sky-rocketed. He had no idea what Naruto was doing; he could not help but wonder if he was going to kiss him again. Instead, he turned his head towards the shore, so that Sasuke was staring at the boundless, wild sea. It was a magnificent sight, but he could not help but feel disappointed deep within himself.

Naruto shifted so that he was standing by Sasuke's side and draped one tan, toned arm over his shoulders, and lifted the other in direction of the crashing waves. "Are they not beckoning to you?" He said, turning to look at his friend with a brilliant smile illuminating his face.

"Oh, yeah? What exactly are they saying?" Sasuke inquired, dripping sarcasm.

Naruto paused for a moment and seemed to be thinking, his lips pursed. He tapped his chin thoughtfully and then his grin returned. He slid his arm off Sasuke's shoulders and then stepped in front of him, his facing the ocean and his back to his friend. "Oh, something along the lines of 'Ride me, ride me!'" Naruto said, and Sasuke did not even want to think about how wrong that sounded, especially coming from Naruto's mouth. Nor did he want to view the mental image those words produced ever again. Naruto turned his head slightly, peering at Sasuke. "Don't you think so, 'suke?"

"Whatever you say, dobe, as long as we get on with the surf-," Sasuke stopped short, seeing that Naruto had ripped his surfboard out of the sand, and was now darting towards the sea. Therefore there was no need for him to even finish his sentence. He sighed and then smiled fondly; he grabbed the board Naruto allowed him to borrow and followed him. So far, today had consisted of a good amount of chasing Naruto.

Much like every other day.

Naruto splashed through the ocean water, drenching himself entirely. His board shorts immediately became soaked and clung tightly onto his skin as he trudged through the sea. He slowed down moved through the water as quick as he could, his cerulean eyes sparkling with excitement and adrenaline rushing through his veins. When he felt that he went deep enough, he attached his leash and laid the board out in front of him, gripping both sides of it. Naruto laid his body across the board quickly; he had perfected the art of balancing and it had become second nature to him. He paddled out further, swiftly moving through the water. His golden hair was now wet and limp, almost entirely blocking out his vision. He shook his head so that he could see. Drops of water were flung off from strands of sunny hair, flying haphazardly through the air in every direction. He was soaked to the bone, the taste of salt pungent in his mouth, the cold, ocean water whipping against his sides as he paddled.

This was what he lived for.

He halted, deciding that he went far enough for now, and that he should give Sasuke a break. After all, paddling was pretty hard on the arms. In another expert movement, he quickly sat up on his board, feeling the movement of the small passing waves beneath him. Naruto squinted and peered back towards the shore, looking for a brunet attempting to paddle and struggling awkwardly on a surfboard. Naruto spotted him some distance away, trying to paddle against the waves. Naruto had accidentally got caught up in his whole love-of-surfing moment and left Sasuke lagging behind. He seemed to have learned how to balance well enough on his own, though.

Just at that moment, Sasuke's board flipped over, taking him down with it, dragging him into the depths of the dark ocean. Naruto winced and waited for his friend to emerge. When he finally did, dripping wet, Naruto could discern that he was becoming frustrated, despite the distance between them. He considered doing something, like helping, for instance, but he decided that he was much more content sitting where he was and laughing at his friend.

When Sasuke was within ear shot, Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Er, sorry about that. Got over excited, I guess. This time, we'll paddle together to where the waves start to form," Naruto said, and then bit his lip. Sasuke was closer to him now, and he was staring at him with skepticism. The corner of Naruto's lips twitched upwards, and he decided that he just could not help himself. "If you have trouble, I'll hold your hand, if that makes you feel any better," he taunted.

Sasuke glowered at him. Suddenly, he paddled closer and sat up for a brief second before he was sent toppling into the water, but it was enough time to catch Naruto off guard and knock him into the ocean. They both resurfaced, coughing and spitting out the salty sea water, hovering close to their boards. Sasuke shook his head and his raven hair was flung away from his face by the sudden motion, only to reveal a sneer.

"You little bastard!" Naruto shouted, thrashing around in the water.

"That's for being a suckass teacher," Sasuke said, smirking at him menacingly.

"Yo, don't insult your surfing-sensei," Naruto responded. "Besides, enforcing independence and self-reliance is my teaching method," he insisted, but it sounded as if he had just come up with that. He knew that he may be slightly incompetent, but he was not willing to admit that he was a horrible teacher.

They both climbed back up on their boards (though Sasuke flipped over a few times. That saved Naruto the trouble of doing it himself, and he still got to laugh) and Naruto sat up with ease, waiting for Sasuke to do the same, but only received a sarcastic, blank stare. He was still lying across his board in the paddling position because Naruto had not yet taught him how to sit up.

"Grip the sides of your board, lift yourself into a push-up position, slide the lower half of your body towards the middle-ish of the board, and find your center," Naruto instructed, hoping that that was helpful enough. Sasuke stared down at his board. Well, it did make sense. He tried to do what Naruto told him, and only ended up flipping over several more times. Naruto was shaking from the laughter he was trying to suppress. Sasuke spit more water out, climbed back onto the board with frustration, tried to sit up, fell into the water, and repeated the process several more times. His throat was really starting to burn from swallowing so much water and he was sure that his eyes were red, whether it was from opening them under water or fury.

Naruto had made it look so easy. Well, at least he knew that the idiot was talented in something. He would never underestimate his surfing abilities. Sasuke wondered what Naruto would be like when actually standing up on the board and riding a waves, his blond hair whipping wildly through the air, becoming entangled in itself, one hand skimming over the top of the water, a sincere yet triumphant expression on his face. Sasuke nearly blushed, but he was actually able to contain it, for once. He really did not need to resemble a female in front of Naruto more than he already did.

"So? Are you going to try again, or keep me waiting here all day, bastard?" Naruto challenged with a crooked smirk on his face, one of his eyebrows raised in question.

Sasuke just gazed at him coolly, and then his lips formed into a smirk of his own. "Just watch me succeed, idiot." He began to climb back onto the board with renewed determination, no longer frustrated. He was careful with his movements and meticulously precise. He lifted himself slightly and gripped his board tightly, making sure that it was steady. He slid himself up the board and pulled his hands back towards himself slightly, still holding onto the sides. He straightened his back, and the board did shift from side, but he did not flip.

He looked up when he heard Naruto clapping, a wide, cheery grin on his face. "Great job, 'suke! I knew you could do it. Alright, so how about we move onto the real thing? It's time to ride some waves," Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically. He then turned to look out into the far-off distance, as if he was trying to peer past the horizon. He turned back around to face Sasuke, and was surprised to find that he was smiling at him pleasantly, and in a way, it could be interpreted as ardent.

It was looks like these from Sasuke that made Naruto doubt his self-control. He did not know how much more he could take. Already, he had snapped twice in the past week and had kissed him. _Today, for sure, I'll tell him, though I'm sure that he knows already. I've made my feelings too obvious...well, typical for a guy like me. I was never good at hiding anything. _.Naruto slowly smiled at him, mirroring Sasuke's small one.

"Are you ready?" Naruto asked softly, looking at him with fervor.

"Yeah, let's go," Sasuke responded, still smiling gently.

Naruto stared at him for a moment longer, an emotion that Sasuke could not decipher glittering in his eyes. Once he blinked, the look was gone and had been replaced with a broad grin and a cheerful, carefree aura. He doubted that Naruto had even looked at him with zealous sincerity at all. Naruto had turned to face the endless ocean and had started to paddle to where the waves began to form. He moved quickly, in a way attempting to get as far away from Sasuke as soon as possible, but reluctance was holding him back. His hair fell in his eyes and he glanced down at his board. He thought that he had known exactly what he wanted.

A wave came towards him and he swiftly pushed his board down and became submerged, the wave passing over him. Naruto surfaced and glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Sasuke was behind him. He was struggling and was not going nearly as fast as his friend was, and by the look on his face, Naruto could determine that his arms ached like hell. Naruto halted and turned his board around so that he was facing the shore, sat up, and attempted to patiently wait for Sasuke.

Sasuke arrived and, surprisingly, did not attempt to knock Naruto into the water this time. He merely glanced at his friend, and tried to turn his board around without falling off. He managed to do it by himself and then, just as meticulously as before, sat up. Naruto looked him over, noting the slight shaking of his arms as they tightly gripped the sides of the board. Either he was not quite used to chilly water, or he was already beginning to feel tired. Sasuke sat silently, waiting for instruction.

He stared straight ahead toward the beach and his stomach suddenly dropped. He had not realized how far out they had gone. He watched the other surfers around them, riding the ocean's moderate waves with ease. Sasuke knew it would be quite a while before he could even sufficiently stand up without immediately plummeting into the depths of the dark sea.

"Alright, now we're getting to the real deal. We're aside paddling, sitting up, duck diving, and all that other shit. Time for some surfing!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning at Sasuke enthusiastically. Sasuke merely snorted and then cocked one eyebrow at his friend. Naruto grinned at him haughtily, and Sasuke had some idea of what was coming. "You should feel honored, since you're about to see a pro at work. Watch and learn," he said, switching into the paddling position. "When I come back, it's your turn to try. Prepare to be amazed!"

With that, Naruto paddled away, heading towards the waves. "Dazzle me," Sasuke said sarcastically, though he was looking forward to seeing Naruto surf. Sasuke did not prefer floating on a surfboard alone in the middle of the ocean, but there was not much he could do about it, so he just sat and watched.

Naruto was paddling vehemently, ripping through the rolling sea. He caught a wave and it surged him forwards, and in a blink of an eye he was no longer lying on the board, and instead crouching. As the wave took him further, he stood up straighter, and then plunged down, letting out an excited yell. The view was not great from Sasuke's current position, but it was better than he could have imagined. He should have listened to Naruto and prepared himself for the spectacular sight of him surfing. He was ostentatious, but nevertheless amazing.

He could not see Naruto's expression, which disappointed him, but instead he observed the sight of the wave beginning to crash around Naruto, sending glittering drops of water flying around him and landing on his skin. His golden hair was whipping through the air violently, his rapid and sudden movements sending it in every direction. Naruto swerved up and down the wave, practically running up and down the board, performing an array of impressive tricks. A few times he even rode up the wave and jumped up into the air, flamboyantly twisting and turning, before landing back on it perfectly.

It was the brief, showy moments like these that allowed him to catch a glimpse of his expression. Though he was some distance away, Sasuke could tell that Naruto was completely absorbed in what he was doing. He closed his eyes and shook his head, the corners of his lips upturning. "Idiot," he murmured.

Sasuke looked ahead and saw that Naruto had finished surfing the wave and was sliding across the sea, carefully progressing into the paddling position. He turned around began making his way back to Sasuke.

Once Naruto sure he was close enough, he locked gazes with Sasuke, and then slowly began to grin. Sasuke half-smiled, never looking away. Naruto sat up and moved his board so he was beside his friend, and then turned to look at him. "So, did you enjoy the show?" He inquired, raising his eyebrows in question.

"It's going to be a while before I can do any of that," Sasuke admitted.

"I think that's the closest to a compliment that I'll ever get from you," Naruto mused, content with his friend's response. He smiled happily, and Sasuke stared at him with his dark eyes, surprised by how little it took to please him. "So thanks," the blonde continued, "I guess."

"Then you're welcome, I guess."

Naruto laughed, clearly amused, and gave Sasuke a little push towards the forming waves. He stiffened and held onto the board as tightly as possible, trying not to move and keep his balance. He frowned and shot his friend a glare over his shoulder.

"You're right, it is going to take a while, so you better start practicing now," Naruto said pointedly, actually making some sense for once. "Besides, I said I would hold your hand, remember?" He taunted coolly, a mischievous grin present on his face.

"How could I forget?" Sasuke said sardonically.

Naruto stared at him for a second with a scrutinizing gaze. Sasuke turned his body slightly so it was easier to look at Naruto, and watched him uncertainly. "Exactly my point," Naruto uttered, staring at him with mercurial and unreadable blue eyes, an omniscient look present on his face. Sasuke did not miss the underlying meaning existing in his words.

"Now go," Naruto said, giving his friend another small nudge forward. Sasuke turned away from Naruto instantly, so that he could keep his balance on the board. Carefully, he lay down on the surfboard and started to paddle forward hesitantly. He did not glance back and moved along, searching for the most benign wave he could find. "Good luck, 'suke!" Naruto shouted from some distance behind him, sounding genuine.

By the tone of his voice, Sasuke could tell that Naruto was smiling.

Sasuke halted his paddling and felt the waves roll past beneath him, getting a feel for the rhythm of the ocean. A small, gentle, and innocent wave was beginning to form and he decided to attempt to ride that one. He paddled towards it hastily and almost lost control of his board as the wave surged him forward. He only had a split second to remember what Naruto had did at this point, and tried to imitate his movements. Sasuke jumped up, planted his feet on the board, and began to precariously surf. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as the board plunged down, excitement overcoming his fear. His stomach dropped and for an instant he was actually standing, before he lost his footing and tumbled down into the sea.

Sasuke quickly surfaced and pushed his dark hair out of his eyes, the thrill of the brief moment still coursing through his body. Before, he would have never had done something as pointless, insane, and thrilling as this; he had no reason to. He would simply go through life as if it was just a blur, feeling and caring for nothing. Living for nothing. Sasuke almost laughed aloud. Compared to who he had been, he was completely reborn now.

He heard splashing and he looked up to see Naruto, grinning down at him, his arm extended. "Great job, for your first try. Only about a hundred or so more to go...but don't worry, we've got all day long. And I'll be here to help you get back up every time you fall." Sasuke took his hand, his small, pale hand lost in Naruto's firm grip. Naruto pulled Sasuke up and assisted him with getting back on the board.

"I feel so safe now," Sasuke said sarcastically, a smirk forming on his lips. He took back his hand, the warmth on his skin receding.

Naruto laughed and they both started to paddle back out, further away from the nearing shore. "So, how was it?" He asked, looking at Sasuke with expectant and curious eyes.

"Have to try again," Sasuke mumbled monotonically, solely concentrating on forcing his aching arms to continue to cut through the ocean. Naruto smirked elatedly, obviously satisfied with his response. So teaching (could it even be called that? It was more so supervising) Sasuke how to surf was not in vain after all. By the look on his face, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if he became addicted to it. Or at least, if he liked it. He was simply glad that he was bringing a little excitement into Sasuke's life, so that every day was not simply routine. Besides, he enjoyed spending time with him immensely.

It was no secret that Naruto made Sasuke feel more alive than he had since...a long time ago.

* * *

Naruto watched Sasuke intently as he yet again fell off his board and into the sea. At least his falls were becoming a bit more controlled, and it seemed as if he was starting to jump off on his own when he felt that he was beginning to fall, which was not such a bad idea. That way he knew exactly when he would 'slip' off, and had less of a chance of crashing into a rock (It had happened to Naruto before. It was not the most enjoyable thing in the world) Each time he would climb back onto the board, an impatient yet determined look on his face, and would try again. Naruto noticed that every time he would become better at balancing, timing, and keeping control of his board. He actually could stay on for a while now, if the wave was very calm, before he would start to tip to one side a bit too much.

The entire time Naruto would sit, a safe distance away, his blue eyes following Sasuke's every movement. Though he was not doing much, he was not bored at all. Something about watching Sasuke's attempts was fascinating to him. He knew it was not because it looked like his board shorts were going to fall off any second (though that did help a bit, even if he knew his own shorts were no better, maybe even worse) The blond glanced over his shoulder, noticing the colorful glow the western sky was beginning to take. The sun was setting, and it would only be about fifteen minutes until the orange orb disappeared beneath the horizon.

After spending the entire day out at sea, there was no possible way that Sasuke could be as pale as he was this morning, no matter how many layers of sunscreen he had coated himself with. Naruto laughed to himself and decided that it was time for another one of his surfing shows. Though he spent most of the time watching his friend, he did occasionally go out and join Sasuke, for the thrill of surfing and the fun of bothering him. He did not think that made him a very good teacher, but he did not care much about that anyway.

Naruto lay down on his board and paddled close to where Sasuke was. "Hey, Sasuke! I just thought I'd say hello," he shouted, causing Sasuke to lose concentration and tumble into the water. Naruto started to laugh and Sasuke surfaced with a frown on his face. He glared at the dobe, still not receiving screams of terror as a response, but a lopsided grin instead.

"Don't do that, Naruto," Sasuke warned, climbing back onto the board he was borrowing from Naruto.

"Psht, c'mon. You can't seriously lose focus that easily! I mean, since you're getting better, I thought..." Naruto trailed off, leaving Sasuke to figure out the rest. He grinned and stuck his tongue out at him, and even if it was obvious that Naruto was being silly, that still did not make it any less inviting to Sasuke. He forgot about his anger momentarily caused by his friend's first comment, and focused on the second part of his statement (and that was not the only reason why he forgot to become angry).

"I'm getting better?" Sasuke asked. He bit his bottom lip, restraining himself from showing the slightest hint of a smile. It was hopeless, though, since Naruto noticed the palpable spark of happiness in his voice.

"Yup," Naruto said, nodding, an all-knowing smirk on his face. "And if you continue to improve, I promise that I'll take you someplace nice. How's that for motivation?" Naruto asked, sounding exuberant.

_Like...a date?_ Sasuke thought, his throat suddenly becoming dry. He knew it was not because he had been swimming in salt water all day, with only a few trips back to the shore for a snack and water. He cleared his throat and locked eyes with Naruto. "Depends," he said, "What do you mean by 'nice'?"

"What I mean is a surfing trip to this kick-ass surfing spot off some cliffs down south. No lifeguard, no other people..." Naruto said, his voice sounding a bit more husky than usual. "Just the two of us. For oh, say, a week or so." He grinned slyly, resembling a fox, his voice thick with implications.

Sasuke gawked at him, and it felt as if his throat was even drier than before. Then, to Sasuke's horror, he winked. Naruto started to laugh at his friend's dumbfounded expression. Sasuke had no idea if he was joking or being serious. With Naruto, he never could tell. All he ever received were mixed messages.

"I'll look forward to it," Sasuke said, having no idea what his own expression was. It could have been anything from amused to dubious, or serious to egotistical.

"So I guess you better get your little arse moving, huh?" Naruto suggested with an understanding smile. As if he knew how absolutely confused Sasuke was.

"Guess I should," Sasuke agreed and started to paddle toward a forming wave. About half way there, he halted and slowly glanced over his shoulder, checking if Naruto was still there. He had not moved an inch, and was sitting on his board effortlessly, a reassuring smile on his face. Sasuke smirked slightly, turned back around to face forward, and then began to ride the wave.

Naruto scrutinized him carefully, counting how long he could stay on the wave this try. He stayed on about the same amount of time as he did last try, giving or taking a few seconds. (After all, who could trust Naruto's counting skills?) He fell off and spiraled down into the water and resurfaced, shakily climbing back onto his board, wasting no time. He tried again and fell, and Naruto noticed that it was at just about the same moment as the last time he fell. When he thought about it, in his most recent attempts, almost every time he fell was when the waves would begin the break and crash down. All he needed was a little help with his timing, balance, and movements at that part and he might be able to make it through the entire wave.

Naruto grinned as an idea came to mind. With that thought, he began to paddle towards a wave, which happened to coincidentally be the one Sasuke was currently riding. He swiftly stood up and began to surf, coming up from behind Sasuke, and hovering dangerously close. Sasuke sensed that someone was behind him, and quickly glanced over his shoulder to see who the idiot was.

"Boo," Naruto said, swerving closer. Sasuke quickly did a double take, looking skeptical. They were already so close that their boards were practically on top of each other. Sasuke was not even close to being a good surfer, and all it would take was the slightest mistake from him to send him flying off his board and slamming into Naruto, which would probably be the equivalent of crashing full-force into rocks. (With that sexy, toned body of his, there was no doubt about that) He could only imagine what Naruto's thought process must be like.

"Naruto? What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Sasuke shouted, becoming angered, trying his very best to concentrate on staying on the surfboard. It was not working as well as he had hoped. His weak and tired body was shaking from exhaustion and he was threatening to fall any moment now. "Do you know how insane and dangerous this is?"

Right after he finished that sentence, Naruto got so close that he was within reaching distance of his friend, and leaned over and grabbed his wrists, yanking him into a different spot on the board. "Keeping you from falling," Naruto said, a stupid grin on his face. He tightened his grip around Sasuke's wrists and laughed. "I told you I would hold your hand if you needed help," he pointed out cheerily, almost singing his words.

"Because of you we're going to fall! You dumbass!" Sasuke shouted, a frantic edge to his voice.

"Yeah, but I'll fall on you," Naruto said. He made it sound as if it was something good.

"That would be like being hit by a freight train."

"Hey!" Naruto pretended to be offended. "A sexy freight train..." he mumbled.

At that moment, Sasuke slipped and lost his balance, wiping out and falling into the water, dragging Naruto down with him. Unfortunately, he found out that he was right about the entire rock/train thing through experience. It hurt like hell. They both swam up towards the surface and burst out of the water, gasping for air. Sasuke's first impulse was to glare viciously at his friend; Naruto's was to spit out the water in his mouth at Sasuke's face, and then start laughing hysterically.

Sasuke twitched involuntarily; he could not help but throw himself at Naruto, dunk him back underwater, hold him under for several long seconds, and then swim away as quickly as possible. He got back on his board and paddled towards another wave, laughing at the overdramatic gurgles and splashes coming from Naruto. When Naruto was done pretending to drown, he came up and shook his head like a dog, attempting to rid his eyes of his golden hair.

What he saw surprised him. One last time, Sasuke seemed to be trying, and he was actually doing quite well. He had not yet lost his balance, and was still surfing the wave. He was far from doing any swerving back and forth or performing any tricks, and stuck to sliding along in a straight line. He still wobbled precariously from side to side, but he seemed to be used to the idea of changing positions in order to maintain balance. Sasuke rode the wave, past the point where he usually fell (he figured out that Naruto randomly snatching him and switching his positioning before was not for no reason), and let the ocean carry him toward the shore. The wave was originally small for a surfer to be riding, but had crashed and diminished to almost nothing.

There Sasuke stood awkwardly, his board still sliding along, unsure of what to do next. As he slowed, it was harder for him to keep his balance, and he fell off-again.

When he surfaced, Naruto made sure that he was right there, waiting for him. Sasuke came up and almost sunk back into the water; evidently he had not anticipated Naruto being there when he emerged from the sea. Naruto began to laugh and clapped his hands together loudly in approval. He seemed overexcited, and Sasuke felt that he should, for some reason, brace himself.

"You did it!" Naruto shouted, throwing his arms and legs into the air excitedly, splashing water into every direction, and not to mention onto Sasuke. "Hell yeah, bitch! You actually rode out your first wave! Aw, c'mon, Sasuke, smile, you did it! Now we can go on a surfing trip together and you'll keep on getting better and better...Of course though you'll never become as good as me, 'cause, face it, I'm just so sexy and awesome and like, totally kick-ass and no one could ever beat me at surfing. Don't get me wrong, your kick-ass too and all that...just in a more...I don't even know how to describe it..." Naruto rambled on, gesticulating along to his words. He had started out looking extremely animated, and as he blabbered on he had become lost in thought.

_Cute._

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke said, except his tone lacked venom. He had a small smile on his face and his voice was laced with ardor. Naruto stopped talking immediately, clamping his mouth shut. He watched Sasuke intently as he climbed onto his board, looking completely exhausted and waterlogged. He practically collapsed on his board, and then attempted to stifle a yawn. "I'm happy, alright?" Sasuke reassured, since he had felt Naruto's eyes on him.

"I'm glad that you're glad." Naruto smiled brightly. "Maybe we should head back to land. It's getting dark, and it's obvious that you're tired," he suggested, watching the sun disappear behind the horizon.

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue and claim that he was fine, and not tired in the least. "Don't bother," Naruto said without turning around. "Even if it's hurtin' your damned pride, I'm not going to be lettin' ya surf when it's dark and dangerous." He started to paddle towards the shore, the setting sun casting on orange glow on him and their surroundings.

Sasuke yawned again and began to follow Naruto silently, looking as if he was about to pass out at any moment.

"If it helps," the blond started, the light splashing of water interrupting him, "I'll carry you back to our station on the beach."

"Sounds nice..." Sasuke mumbled, not caring that he knew he should not have said yes. More contact would not do him any good, but he was too tired to even give a damn.

They paddled in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, moving along at a slow pace. Naruto could not help but feel that everything was simply perfect. Or, at least, as close to perfect as anything could possibly be. The sun was setting, they had just spent an entire day together, getting along quite well and laughing with each other, strengthening their bond. Though he may not have chosen the best person to fall for, the feelings were still there. Even if it was hard, and even if Sasuke was closed-off and cold, he could not help but feel happy around him. He was so certain they were past the point of friendship, after all, who kisses their best friend? Naruto had made his feelings obvious and there was no way that Sasuke could be completely oblivious. The time was now.

He opened his mouth to speak; he had everything he would say planned out in his head, and even Sasuke's reactions to the things he would utter. But nothing would come out. "Sasuke..." He started, struggling with his words. He did not understand; a second ago he was fine, maybe even confident, and suddenly he was inarticulate and hesitant.

Naruto was sure about how he felt. But what bothered him was not admitting his feelings to himself. He was not sure about how Sasuke felt. That changed everything. It had been so easy to think what he would do, as if everything would work smoothly, though here he was now, uncertain whether he should say anything more. Things are easier said than done, he supposed.

"Mhm? What is it, Naruto?" Sasuke asked sleepily, paddling along idly.

Naruto's words became stuck in a lump in his throat. He could not believe it. Naruto, out of all people, was choking.

_...But...I don't want to do anything until I'm sure...but what if I never find out? What if I'm forever stuck between friendship and a real relationship? I don't want to ruin anything we already have...There is no rush, it can always wait...Tomorrow, there is always tomorrow.._

"I..er, well..." He stuttered, trying to think of something to say, other than what was currently on his mind. "Um, we're at shore now. You still up for that piggy back ride?"

"Of course..." Sasuke mumbled, practically falling of his surfboard once they were in shallow water, rather than sliding off it as Naruto had. They trudged through the breaking waves and made it back onto shore. Once they made it to the dry sand, Naruto took both of their surfboards into his arms. He looked at Sasuke with an indecipherable emotion, and then started to take a few steps back.

"You stay put, alright? I'll be right back for you," Naruto told him, and ran off towards their station on the beach with both surfboards. Sasuke noticed the strange expression on his friend's face but said nothing, nodded, and stood there idly, waiting for Naruto to come back.

In a few minutes Naruto returned and patted his back, indicating Sasuke to 'hop on'. He dragged himself over to the blond and practically collapsed on him, letting his friend support all of his body weight. Sasuke was too tired to even care that he was draped all over Naruto. An innocent, well-intentioned piggy back ride was nothing. But he did not exactly mind the feel of his skin on Naruto's and soon found himself becoming comfortable. Or falling asleep.

Aside from everything, Naruto chuckled, wondering what Sasuke would think if he could see himself.

Maybe it was somewhere along the lines of 'I really am in love with him...'

Naruto tensed briefly, and had to remind himself of what he had just thought.

_Tomorrow..._

* * *

Sakura stormed onto the beach, frustrated. The sun was setting, for crying out loud. Had it really taken that long just to assemble her friends and to convince them to all come here? There was hardly any point to it. The happy couple had probably left by now. It had taken long enough with the traffic and her getting ready, and then she realized that there were a few flaws with her ingenious plan. First of all, even if she would have shown up in traditional beach attire, (the skimpiest little bikini that she could find in her closet) it would have been suspicious if she was running around at the beach by herself, not to mention stalking the two. She would definitely be spotted, or at least thought completely insane, or pathetic, by beach-goers.

Second of all, there was the entire thing with her friends constantly keeping an eye on her. She could not go anywhere without them finding out somehow. Sure, they say nothing and leave her alone when she goes to drown her sorrows with alcohol, but when it comes to Naruto-and-Sasuke it was an entirely different story. Gaara had somehow found out, then told everyone, and they insisted on coming, not because they wanted to destroy her malicious plans or anything. No, simply 'enjoy a nice day at the beach.' Bullshit.

They all had taken an eternity to get ready, especially Ino, and that was no doubt done purposely. Then Neji had offered to treat them all to a late lunch, and of course, who but Sakura could refuse such a 'great' offer? Then Gaara had said that it was only healthy for them to wait at least one hour before swimming. Then Ino had made all of them go with her to get a new bathing suit. Then Neji's car broke down mysteriously, and he refused a ride from Sakura vigorously, yet politely. The pink-haired girl had no idea what was with them. Why would they go to such lengths to protect this relationship between the two boys?

It made no sense. But one thing was certain. By the time she was done with them, it would be a relationshit.

Sakura pulled up in a parking spot right next to the beach and stepped out of her magenta car, dragging her purple-and-pink Hawaiian flower patterned board along with her. Ino pulled up in her new BMW, taking off her designer sun glasses and tugging on her barely-there board shorts. Neji and Gaara parked and the three joined Sakura, carrying their boards along with them. They stood at the edge of the beach, looking out into the distance, watching the sunset.

At least, that was what Gaara, Ino, and Neji were doing. Sakura was scanning the area for two guys; one tall, tan, and blonde, the other smaller, pale, and dark-haired. She could not find them anywhere and quickly became extremely aggravated.

"Well, Sakura," Ino started, appearing by the pink-haired girl's side. Sakura scowled, wondering what her 'friend' thought she was doing standing next to her. "I don't see them anywhere. Can we leave now?" Ino asked brusquely, looking bored. Sakura shot her a look, looking incredulous.

"Who said I was looking for Naruto and the emo kid? Can't we simply um…enjoy the beach?" She lied blatantly, and only received skeptical stares in return.

"When it's twilight?" Gaara asked dubiously.

"Bonfires? Late night beach party?" Sakura offered, laughing somewhat nervously. She wished that they would leave her alone. If the two boys had been here, they were certainly gone by now.

"Give it a rest, Sakura, we all know-" Ino started, but was interrupted by laughter coming from the area to their left. By the sound of it, the laughter was definitely coming from a man. The four of them turned and stared off into their darkening surroundings, an oddly-shaped silhouette standing out against the orange sky. It, or rather, he, was walking towards the edge of the beach, in the direction of a pile of things. They still could not determine why he looked so disfigured, though, and had to scrutinize him closely, which was difficult to do in the darkness.

As he walked closer, turning in the direction away from them, Neji could begin to make out a tall, toned figure with tousled hair. The strange thing was, there was a person slung over his back and he appeared to be giving the person a piggy back ride. The four of them stood silently and watched as they moved away.

"Who is-" Ino started in a low whisper, but was immediately shushed quiet by all three of her friends. She bit her lip and they continued to stare, unnoticed by the two people. They waited a few more seconds and heard the low murmuring of male voices, and then again, laughter. The sound was unmistakably the laugh of Naruto Uzumaki. The chuckle was bright, animated and cheerful, making his happiness evident to anyone near. It could only be him.

"It's Naruto," Neji pointed out quietly, even though it was quite obvious. "And Sasuke," he added, glancing at Sakura to see her reaction. Gaara did the same, and Ino acted oblivious.

Sakura watched them, her green eyes wide. She could not help but feel angry; her fists were slightly clenched and she was tense, her red nails digging into her skin. She hated feeling like this; she had no idea why everything about them infuriated her so much. Being like this made her feel absolutely insane. She stood still and silent, aware of the three pairs of eyes watching her. Right now, destroying whatever they had did not seem as good of an idea as it did five minutes ago. If Naruto was laughing, it had to mean that he was happy spending of his time with Uchiha. He did not need them, her especially, considering the way she had been acting.

Sakura continued to gawk at their receding silhouettes. Gaara placed his hand on her shoulder, attempting to comfort her. She had never heard such zeal in Naruto's voice before. Even though the word relationship had passed through her head innumerable times since the night of the dance, she never thought of it as love. _That's it. Naruto and Sasuke are in love._

It hit her hard. That realization should have made her understand that it was time to move on. Rather, it had the complete opposite effect. Sakura was now enraged and resentful instead, her body filled with contempt.

"Are you alright?" Gaara asked, sounding as concerned as a usually apathetic person could.

Sakura inhaled slowly and deeply, and then nodded idly. "Um, I'm fine. Thanks, Gaara."

"Should we go say hi?" Ino asked dumbly, blinking innocently, and twirling her long, silky white-blonde pony tail.

"Well, while we're here we might as well ride some waves," Neji said, making the best out of their current situation. Gaara nodded in agreement. The three of them tugged their boards out of the ground, Ino giving Sakura a well-intentioned (cough) kick to snap her out of her daze. The pink-haired girl mimicked them and then followed them as they ran towards the dark, ominous ocean.

Her friends seemed content, and Sakura forced herself to try to smile. But her false smile shattered immediately, causing it to reverse into a frown. All the while, that one word rung stridently and endlessly in her mind.

_Love._

* * *

(A/n) :Gaara's board has a cute little raccoon on it. If you're wondering, it was a present from Ino. :D

If something was inacurate or physically impossible about the surfing and somehow defies the laws of gravity or whatever, I blame the internet! It's not as if I can surf...though I wish I could. All I know is that there is a leash, waxing thingy going on, board, paddling, duckdiving, surfer guys are amazing and sexy, etc. What can I say?


	15. Tomorrow

This is where the usual tribute to my 500th reviewer would go. But due to my lack of counting skills, I have no idea who that is. If anyone wants to tell me, feel free to apply your own skills and count backwards from five-hundred-somen. Haha, good luck. Now, onto smile! Everyone will hate me after this. I am _so _deliciously _evil! _:3

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I. do. not. own. Naruto. But. I. want. to. VERY BADLY. But does anyone have a cookie & hug for Sasuke? I think he's gonna need one.

_Warnings:_ The usual...plus alcohol, angst shit (?), InsaneAndHysterical!Sakura ( as usual? o.o), etcetera.

_Blah blah blah, review if you like, don't review or even bother reading if you dislike._

* * *

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: TOMORROW**

Sakura staggered as she walked the city streets, not paying much attention to where she was going. She was too engulfed in her own thoughts to even notice which direction was which. She had no destination. The pink-haired girl was simply wandering through town without purpose, going wherever the next turn on the sidewalk took her. Her emerald eyes looked nebulous and as she walked; she carried herself without any effort, slumping over and dragging her feet. There were no words left to be said. She had given up. They were in love, and no matter how much she resented that fact, there was nothing that she could do about it. Sakura still did not know why it had bothered her so much in the first place. She had been over Naruto, even though she could not help but hold a grudge for what he did to her emotionally that night, so long ago.

She wondered if seeing him happy, whereas she drowned in misery, was the source of her malice. Regardless of the state of things, though, Naruto was always happy. There was always a brilliant smile present on his face. With his optimism, he always found a reason to grin, to look forward to tomorrow. Sakura contemplated that his close relationship with the person that, in her opinion, caused them to separate drove her to her spiteful behavior. She could not fathom why he had chosen Sasuke, out of all people. Although he was handsome, he and an ice cube shared the same personality. She considered that she could be wrong, though, perhaps there was more to the silent, dark-haired boy than she could perceive.

Sakura could not even begin to comprehend how Naruto could have grown so close to him. It seemed so impossible that it probably went against the laws of nature in some fashion. She expected that if she approached him, she would be repelled instantly by an invisible barrier, keeping curious people from nearing him. The pink-haired girl snorted, darkly amused by her own joke. She ignored the protesting of a woman as she crashed into her unconsciously and pushed her aside, then continued her meaningless meandering. She wished that she could stop thinking about everything so much, and plant her feet back onto the ground. It made everything so much more complicated than anyone could ever handle.

Sakura's solution was to distort her thought process. In order to do that, she would require a large quantity of alcohol. Then, at least for a little while, she could stop feeling so useless and depressed, and actually smile. Even if it would only be because she would be intoxicated, which would render her incapable of remembering why she had been upset in the first place, and why she had no reason to be happy. But now, though her head was still high up in the clouds, she could still clearly see the reasons for her misery due to her sobriety. Thinking about it hurt her, and not only because of her hang over from the previous night.

Sakura had lost her best friend, Ino, over something into which she had dragged all of them. Even if she acted oblivious, the pink-haired girl was well aware that the end of their friendship was her fault. Ino could have been more understanding to how she felt and less harsh, but nonetheless, Sakura had started the entire fiasco. Though Naruto had not spoken to her for a long while, he had initially tried following their separation. So again, her fault. She was a burden that dumped all of her stress on Gaara and Neji which demanded to be taken care of. Even if she was alive and well and things could undoubtedly be worse; even if she still had to make a life for herself and the brilliant warmth of the Californian sun beat down on her, Sakura allowed herself to become absorbed by her own self-pity and guilt.

Sakura turned a corner, and luckily, a bar stood nearby. She suspected that the place would almost be completely barren, since it was around noon. Except, of course, for the deplorable pink-haired girl sitting in the dark corner, drowning her sorrows with alcohol. She started walking toward it and noticed that a silver car was following her, or at least, somebody around her. After all, she was in a mob of people, so the car could be following anyone, or perhaps it was driving slowly through traffic, staying behind her all times and close to the curb. When she thought about it, Sakura realized that she would be very easy to follow, with her bubble-gum pink hair and ostentatious, expensive clothing. She glanced over her shoulder and distinguished that it was Neji's car.

_Oh great, here comes my little, personal rescue squad_. Sakura stretched her neck and scanned the area for any signs of a Viper or a BMW. So far, she did not see any other cars that seemed familiar to her. So it was only Neji. Indisputably, the other two were probably driving around another area of town, looking for her. Sakura had forgot to mention that she had not been answering their calls for a few days, and when she finally did, she lied and told them that they would meet at Gaara's mansion. Instead, she just walked out the door and into the crowded city. It was stupid of her to not think they would be searching for her, especially in her current mental state. Sakura considered running and attempting to disappear into the throng of people, but she decided to stop at the curb and wait for Neji.

Neji observed her actions and pulled up against the curb swiftly, despite a sign that clearly stated that there was no parking allowed there at any time. He stepped out of his car and Sakura watched with boredom, still wondering whether she should run. Neji approached her; she could not discern if he was either angry or concerned.

"Sakura, where have you been? We've been looking all over for you," he told her, nearly glaring down at her with his dubious and strange creamy eyes.

"Walkin'," she answered, shrugging, her voice sounding a bit hoarse. She had not really spoken to anyone in days. After all, she left her cell phone off and her parents were on an extended vacation in the Galapagos Islands. Neji stared at her skeptically, seeming to be unsatisfied with her simple answer.

"Aimlessly around the city for several hours when you were supposed to be with us at Gaara's?" He inquired, crossing his arms.

"Well...when you put it that way..." Sakura mumbled, "…yes."

Neji looked at her, shook his head, and then sighed, as if he could not believe her. Sakura had to agree, her behavior had been rather unbelievable as of late. "Any particular destination?" Neji asked.

Sakura clicked her tongue, wondering whether she should tell him where she was going or not. It was not as if Neji would approve. He drank in a different manner than the rest of her friends; he treated alcohol more like a beverage than an intoxicant. When she stood silently, looking at him with her tired and sad green eyes, he scanned the surrounding area's buildings. His eyes narrowed as he found the bar that was not even a block away from their current position, and then he directed his reprehensible and skeptical glower onto her.

"The bar?" He questioned almost inaudibly, though he knew that it was true. Sakura sighed and nodded simply, still appearing sorrowful and bored. "Sakura, how many times have you been to the bar this week?"

Now, she definitely was not answering that honestly. Even if she may have given up on herself that did not mean that she could not fight back. She was aware that all of their intentions were good, even if she was becoming annoyed with the tedious procedure. Sakura becomes sad; friends chase after her. "That's none of your business," she snapped, glaring viciously.

"I'm you friend, it's my business, and it's only natural that I'm concerned," Neji pointed out curtly and logically. "You look like a complete and absolute wreck, Sakura. You don't need to tell me. It's written all over your face. I can tell how miserable you are and that you have been to the bar several times this week." She had forgotten about his uncanny and unusual talent of perceiving people's feelings so easily, with a mere glance. The fact that there was no point in lying about the obvious did not stop her. She stood her ground, staying silent, her arms crossed firmly across her chest.

"I knew you weren't alright, but at least you managed to uphold a strong appearance. You've just given up your will and let your sadness envelope you. You're making this much more of a problem than it is. Just a few days ago, you were better. You became like this after the beach, didn't you?" He said, his omniscient eyes looking down at her. She found it amazing how he could lay down all her feelings so simply like that, and with ease, right before her. Well, that placed everything into perspective.

She could have laughed dryly, but instead she became enraged. At least anger was better than sadness. "Am I really that easy to read, like an open book? You think by just one fucking glance, you know everything that's going on inside my head?" She screeched, her emerald eyes no longer dull, but illuminated by fury.

"I never said that," Neji asserted, his voice calm and level. He realized that he had said the wrong thing, but then again, she could twist anyone's words. He raised his hands and gestured for her to settle down. "I know you. I'm your friend. I simply can tell. But you're right, I don't understand everything. Tell me what's wrong." It would have been a demand, if he had not said it so politely.

"Nothing is wrong," Sakura snarled, stiff and tense. "Absolutely nothing. Can't you tell? Isn't it obvious?" She asked viciously. Her fists were clenched and her body trembled, taking curt, ragged breaths. She did not understand why she suddenly became infuriated. She surmised that after all the pressure and emotions that had been building up inside her, she had finally snapped. Really, nothing was wrong. Sakura was just forcing something that had nothing to do with her upon herself. Truly, she did not even want to care about the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke, but she could not control herself.

Nothing was supposed to be wrong.

"I don't want to fight with you. Please, Sakura, just please, calm down. It's not safe or healthy to be wandering the streets and intoxicating yourself every night. If you'd just step into the passenger seat, it would really make all of us feel better, since we are concerned about you," Neji told her in an even, gentle voice, politeness oozing from his words. It was difficult not to appear frustrated or raise his voice. There seemed to hardly be a point to attempting to soothe her when his words were lost to her ears. They were inaudible compared to her screams.

"I am not going anywhere!" She yelled, stomping her foot angrily for emphasis. Her eyes were absolutely furious and raging. Sakura remained rooted to the ground, staying true to her words. "This is my life, and I'll be damned if anyone tells me how to live it! I don't need your so-called concern. I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine, I'm just peachy!" Sakura screamed, her feet still firmly-implanted on the cement of the sidewalk. She had not moved an inch, but she was gradually leaning towards Neji with every shout, tense and ready to spring at him.

"You fucking people come crawling to me once I show one little outwardly visible sign of instability. And you're supposed to be the fucking people-reader, or whatever, Neji. You should've known that I was pretending to be strong, and once I finally let down the mask, start acting depressed and finally leave the happy, gay couple alone, then you decide I need help. Then you decide it's time to try and understand how I feel. All you did was restrain me and my insane urges from ruining their relationship or whatever. Alright? I get it! Once that is over, oh wow, now it's safe to actually show concern!" Sakura shouted, absorbed in her own hysteria. She was still rigid and shaking, but moved from her spot. She took one, ominous step toward Neji, but he stood his ground firmly. Her face was red and wild with a mixture of many emotions, and her eyes were slowly beginning to tear.

"Sakura, we didn't know it was that bad, but we had to keep you away from them...You didn't see yourself. You have no idea how irrational you were acting, and purely off impulse. There was no thinking involved for you. No matter what you believe, we are concerned for you," Neji insisted, regarding her with pertinacious white eyes. "We're your friends."

Sakura stared at him incredulously, violent passion radiating from her. She looked Neji up and down hastily, searching for any gesture or sign that could have contradicted his words. "Oh yeah?" She asked loudly, her voice no longer sounding as venomous, but still shaking with emotion. "There was so much thinking that it hurt. So much that I didn't know which I meant and which were split-second thoughts or decisions. Are you saying if I saw how I was acting, I would've done the same as you guys did and restrained myself, or at least change my mind? Sorry to break it to you, but I already know that I was, and still am, completely insane," Sakura choked out, trying to take deep breaths. She attempted to concentrate on inhaling and exhaling, but now, even those involuntary actions seemed difficult to accomplish. Instead, her breath came unevenly, and she brought her hands up to her face, wiping the corners of her watering eyes.

Neji watched her, trying to comprehend all the complicated thoughts and emotions she was throwing at him. He wanted to do more than just stand and observe, something that might actually help. In his attempts to 'rescue' her, he had lifted her from her pitiful, hung over, daze, but had placed her into a hysterical one instead. He could not determine which was better. Neji took a step towards her, noting that she was slightly turned away from him, as if she was attempting to hide her obvious, forming tears. He sighed quietly and walked closer, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"If you're aware of your actions and the circumstances, why couldn't you just try to change your mind? Just try..." he uttered.

Sakura moved back sharply, ripping away from her friend's comforting hand. She eyed him skeptically, enraged all over again. Her pink lips trembled pathetically and she dug her hands into her hair, pulling at the cotton-candy colored strands in antagonism. "Do you have any idea how I feel?" She asked in a harsh, biting whisper, as if her words had been sharpened with knives beforehand. "It's horrible and I can't help being selfish, or bitchy, or crazy or whatever words you can use to describe my behavior! That's just who I've always been, cooped up on the inside..." She murmured, her words growing softer. Neji took a slightly wary step closer, straining to hear her.

"I mean, how could I not be like that?" Sakura questioned, though the question was directed to herself. It was if she had forgotten that Neji was even there, and was now simply vocalizing her thoughts. Neji grew nearer, and the pink-haired girl turned away from him. "I-I mean..." She started to stutter, becoming overwhelmed, affected deeply in mind and emotion. "I saw them. You saw them. Everybody saw them," Sakura mumbled, her tears threatening to spill.

Neji hovered near, sensing that the dam holding back her sobs was about to break. His hands were awkwardly dangling at his sides, unsure of what to do with them. She rambled on, tripping over all her words to the point of incoherence. Though he had no idea to what she was referring, he tried to make sense of her scrambled thoughts. Finally, Sakura gave in, and began to sob irrepressible tears.

"Th-They were laughing...a-and the l-look in their...eyes...I couldn't be-believe it…Finally, it had finally hit m-me..." Sakura sobbed loudly, to the point that she was almost screaming with every tear that fell. She broke down and staggered, Neji instantly there to steady her, gripping her shoulders tightly in support. She surrendered to gravity and continued to cry, her cheeks stained with her running eye make-up and her face bright red, letting her friend carry all of her weight. She would not care at all if she fell. Sakura buried her face into Neji's shoulder and wailed, dampening and dirtying his beige shirt with her tears.

"They're in love. They're in love. I thought by tomorrow, maybe by tomorrow, that it would be different. But feelings like those don't change." She was weeping so uncontrollably hard that it seemed as if she was uttering a gibberish language. Neji could barely understand what she was muttering, but that was of little concern to him at the moment. Swiftly, he swept her into the passenger seat of his car, Sakura screaming and crying the entire time. He closed the door, ran around the front of his car, and slid into the driver's seat. He began to drive her away to someplace quiet and serene, where people would not believe that someone was being murdered, due to the distressing screams emitting from Sakura.

"Calm down, Sakura. We're going to my place. Please don't cry," Neji almost ordered, though he was evidently trying to sound kind and caring. He kept his eyes on the road and sped down the street, weaving between cars in his path. He gripped the steering wheel somewhat tightly, becoming stressed by Sakura's distraught wails. He glanced away from the road for a brief second to look for a tissue for Sakura, and if in that short time they crashed, so be it.

Sakura ignored the tissue which Neji offered her kindly and continued to cry, not even bothering to wipe her tears. She did not care anymore, not about anything. Though in her mind she was overwhelmed, hearing only her gasping sobs and hundreds of her thoughts at once, at some subconscious level she was aware of her incessant muttering. Over and over, she would continually repeat the same phrase.

"They're in love."

* * *

_Sasuke...I...I just wanted to tell you...No, no...That's not good._

_For a long time, I couldn't help but feel that we were more than...ugh, no, scratch that_.

_If you think this is easy for me to say, think again. I know you're confused and I am too, and lately nothing seems to make sense...but I do know one thing. I've made it entirely obvious, and I know you feel the same way about me...Is it wrong for me to just hope that we can be...?_

Naruto sighed in frustration, burying his hands into his golden hair and gripping his head tightly. No matter how hard he tried, he could not find the right words. Now he was reduced to the level of practicing what he would say in his head. And yet, when speaking to the imaginary Sasuke inside of his mind, he would still become inarticulate. His thoughts would become tangled and prevent him from speaking. He could only imagine what it would be like if the real Sasuke Uchiha was standing directly in front of him. Naruto would most likely stay silent and anxious, angry with himself. What he wanted to say, what he felt, could not adequately be translated into words. Perhaps they could be explained, but for Naruto it was a difficult task. It was so easy just to think that he had had enough of simply friendship, and that the next day he would tell him. Yet when that day would arrive and the morning sun would illuminate his dorm room, again, he would think tomorrow.

Suddenly, Naruto would not feel as confident as he had felt the day before. Uncharacteristically, he would no longer be convinced that Sasuke liked him back, even if he would review the evident facts in his head. He would not feel as bold or as audacious, and not as ready to confess to Sasuke. Every day that would occur, and every day those underlying feelings of exasperation and anger would surface, along with the ever-present wistfulness and fervor he felt for Sasuke. Naruto wished it would be as easy as anyone else would have expected; one falls in love, admits it to their beloved, and their feelings would undoubtedly be returned. There would be no complicated pasts or crazy ex-girlfriends hindering the progress of their relationship. No matter how great the passion to want to be with that person, there would always be uncertainty in the way. After all, it was not as if this was some fairytale.

But it was never wrong to wish for your own happily ever after. Naruto changed positions in the chair in which he sat, sprawling out across it, sinking down into the seat, his legs dangling idly off one side. He sighed aloud, the noise seeming much louder than it actually was in the disturbing silence of his dormitory. How many times must he sit there and think the same thing over and over again? How many times must he wake up to a new day and end it lost in his mind once more? The delay in his confession was beyond procrastination now. It was just a pathetic apprehension. He wondered what the worst that could happen was. It was not as if their friendship would suddenly end because Naruto had wanted to go further with their relationship. They had already kissed, twice in fact, and Sasuke had seemed to completely ignore that, continuing on with their friendship. Whether it was good or bad, he had no idea, but, in a way, that knowledge comforted him. No matter what, he would not lose the person he cared about the most.

He considered that he might fear rejection. He did not understand, though, how that made sense. When he and Sakura had first met, he would ask her out every day due to his childish crush on her, only to receive a cruel refusal in response. He was never discouraged by that and would always try again, but then again, this was much more serious and deep than a simple crush. Naruto concluded that nothing was holding him back but his own irrational fears. He decided that he would just have to swallow them up and act without a second thought, as always. He sat up and forced himself to leave the chair, stretching as he dragged himself across the room. He halted at his desk, lifting a picture from the table. He brought it up, closer to his face, so that he could look at it more carefully.

The photo was from when they had been messing around with the ink that he had found in Sasuke's closet. He smiled and chuckled to himself at the memory, tracing the whisker-tattoos on his face with his free hand. In the picture, Naruto was winking and sticking his tongue out, one of his arms draped around Sasuke's shoulders. Sasuke, on the other hand, was wearing his usual apathetic expression, not enjoying having badly-drawn shapes painted all over his face. Though when Naruto inspected it closely, though Sasuke seemed slightly annoyed, there was a spark of happiness in his obsidian eyes. At this discovery, Naruto's smile broadened, thinking back to that time. Had he been in love with him then, at the time the picture was taken?

He could not even remember when all of this began, when things began to change and he had decided to attempt to take everything one step further. He really hoped that he was making the right choice. It felt right enough to Naruto. He handled the picture with caution, digging through drawers of random items, looking for a nice, suitable, undamaged frame in which to place the picture. He already had his own copy, meticulously framed and neatly placed on his night table. It was the last thing he would see when he went to sleep, and the first thing he would see when he awakened. Naruto decided that Sasuke could use one of his own. He found one and framed the photo, looking at it and smiling when he was finished.

As he stood in the middle of the room, between the door leading into the hallway and the inviting thinking chair, a simple plan began to formulate in his mind. Though, by now he realized he did not need a reason to pay Sasuke a visit, he felt that it would be better if he appeared to have a purpose other than to simply hang-out, even if he really would be there to tell Sasuke how he felt about him. Naruto would go to his dorm to give him the photo, as a friendly gift. It was perfect, or at least, sufficient enough for his situation.

He doubted he would last much longer without blurting out his feelings. Naruto could not stand it, he wanted to be with him, and he would risk whatever they had (though he kept telling himself that everything would be alright. No matter what, they would stay friends). Neither of them did anything; he could not expect Sasuke to do so, so it was up to him, now. Naruto gripped the picture tightly, checked his appearance in the mirror, inhaled deeply, and strode towards the door.

_Friendship isn't enough for me. For once, I'll be greedy._

Naruto reached his friend's door and rapped on it curtly, impatiently waiting for him to open it. A wave of nervousness passed through him and he tried to take another deep breath. He had to look nonchalant, cool, self-assured. He did not want to imagine what would happen if he walked in there, unable to settle down, constantly fidgeting and moving with anxiousness. That would be highly suspicious. Even if he wanted his intentions to be conspicuous when the time came, he wanted everything to run smoothly, like normal.

The door squeaked and he turned to face it swiftly, waiting and eager to see Sasuke's handsome face. He appeared, clad in dark colors as always, his expression unsurprised. Naruto smiled instantly, radiating zeal. Every time he saw him, that was his immediate reaction. His happiness at seeing Sasuke never had to be fake or forced; his grin was always genuine. "Hey, Sasuke! Can I come in?" He asked cheerfully, making it obvious that he was hiding something behind his back.

"I'm surprised you asked," Sasuke commented, but moved to the side and opened the door all the way, nonetheless. "You usually just barge right in, in all your audacity." He smirked at the blond, and Naruto just shrugged his shoulders, grinning sheepishly.

"I can't help it if my sexiness makes me a bit more self-assured," Naruto said, feigning innocence, making it sound as if it was not his fault for his own brashness. Sasuke snorted, and then eyed his friend, who still had not made any move to enter his dorm. He contemplated slamming the door in his face for fun when he did start to move, since he was taking a while to enter. Naruto noticed that Sasuke was scrutinizing him, trying to peer over and see what he was hiding behind his back.

"What's that, dobe?" He inquired, a hint of wariness and surprise to his voice. It was as if he could not believe that Naruto might have a little something for him. It was a simple gift, really, that required no thinking whatsoever. Though, if Sasuke was taken aback by a mere picture frame, imagine how he would react if Naruto had a little more than something for him, as in a confession of love.

Naruto's smile faltered briefly at the thought, but he quickly recovered. One would have missed the slight twitch in his cheerful disposition if they had blinked. "Just a little present," he said as he took the picture out from behind his back and practically pushed it into Sasuke's hands. Naruto watched in satisfaction as Sasuke gawked at the framed photo in his hands. "It's alright, you can go ahead and thank me. I mean, I did you a huge favor, y'know? Now you have a picture of me in all my glorious hotness to stare at longingly...among other things," Naruto said, laughing.

Sasuke scoffed and glanced down at the picture in his hands, his dark hair hiding his face. He looked back up, an unreadable emotion in his eyes, and a sincere, but warm smile on his face. "Thank you," he said simply, but it was more than enough.

Naruto smiled sheepishly, his heart skipping a beat at Sasuke's smile. He was absolutely certain that a flustered blush was tinting his cheeks; he was thankful that his friend was currently turned around. Sasuke walked toward his impeccably organized and barren desk and halted in front of it, placing the picture on it carefully. It added a nice, yet simplistic touch to the area, bringing some color and happiness to it, making it seem more alive.

Naruto walked over and stood next to Sasuke, who was preoccupied with staring at the picture. "I wish I could've given you one where we were both smiling," he mumbled, concentrating on his friend's slight frown in the picture.

"I'm just glad that we actually have a picture together. It kind of proves that our friendship isn't just some hallucination," Sasuke uttered, his eyelids drooping slightly. "Besides," he added, looking up at Naruto, who was now intently watching him, rather than the picture, " the fact that I didn't kill you for putting ink all over my face and then taking a picture of it as proof that you did so proves that I was...sort of okay with it."

Naruto grinned impishly, a knowing glint in his eyes. He draped one arm across Sasuke's shoulders and pulled him closer, so that he was facing him head on. "Translated from Sasuke-speak into English, you're saying that you were happy and had fun," Naruto purred, grinning like a fox. His heart was beating rapidly. He had decided that there was no doubt about this anymore; he was going to go through with it. He would have to ease into it, though, rather than blurting it randomly. Naruto would start with little things, hinting at what he felt, and when he felt the time was right...

"Shut up, you idiot," Sasuke said curtly, turning away slightly. He tried to slide out of Naruto's grasp but the blond held on tight, smirking the entire time, clearly amused. He watched as Sasuke halted squirming and struggling, seeming to become somewhat comfortable and relax. "I just need to get something...I want to put it beside the picture," he insisted, glancing over his shoulder.

Naruto sighed and let him go, watching him travel across the room to his night table. He picked up a beautiful vase with wine-colored roses inside. It appeared that they had been in there for quite a while, and though the blond was sure that Sasuke had taken good care of them, they had dried and hardened. Abruptly, he realized that those were the flowers he had given to Sasuke on the night of Tsunade's party. He blinked, startled, while his friend made his way back to his desk and placed the roses next to the picture.

"Wow, you still have those?" Naruto asked, sounding skeptical, even if the flowers were directly in front of him, talking more so to himself than Sasuke. "Wow...that's…hm…what's the word for it...ah, cute!" He said with an animated voice, smiling with exuberance. Sasuke said nothing, though the blond thought he heard a few mumbled profanities. Sasuke walked across the room and sat down on his bed, looking up to meet Naruto's cerulean eyes.

His enthusiastic look changed into a small smile gradually and his eyelids dropped down, so that his eyes were only half way open. There was no way Sasuke could miss his look of ardor. He took one step closer to him, shoving his hands into his pockets. He bowed his head a bit, his golden bangs falling into his eyes. "You must really like me, huh?" He asked, sounding light and humorous, but there was definitely a deep sincerity there. Sasuke seemed to catch this and his lips formed into a thin line, remaining silent for a few long seconds.

"I suppose so...Otherwise, I don't know how I would tolerate you," Sasuke admitted, sounding somewhat hesitant as he spoke. He glanced down and off to the side, away from Naruto's blue eyes. When he looked into them, he saw something there that made him want to avoid making eye contact. He heard the springs of the mattress creak and felt the bed dip down slightly as Naruto sat down next to him. His heart was beating much quicker than usual and adrenaline flowed freely through his veins. He had this unexplainable feeling that something significant was coming.

Finally, Sasuke raised his head and immediately froze, shocked at the look on Naruto's face. He never would have expected such an expression to appear on such a carefree, bright person. It was almost like looking in a mirror. Naruto's expression was not exactly apathetic, but it held more sincerity than he had ever seen on anyone's countenance, much less that of Naruto. It was not a look meant to be worn by him. His lips were pressed together in a thin line, unsmiling, and his eyes were incredulously intense. He was utterly and completely serious.

Naruto slid closer to Sasuke, staring down at him, and a feeling of apprehension washed over Sasuke. "We've been friends for a while now, haven't we?" He asked, his voice sounding smooth and nonchalant. The words were just flowing out, now. He did not have to worry about what he would say next or Sasuke's reactions; he merely settled with saying what he felt and thought, hoping for the best.

"What? Three months?" Sasuke said, his voice growing quieter gradually to the point that it was almost a whisper. Naruto was looming over him and had leaned forward slightly, still looking at him with those same eyes. Instinctively, he moved backwards as Naruto moved closer, to the point that he was almost lying across the bed and was supporting himself with his elbows. Naruto was nearly on top of him, hovering close, supporting himself with his arms, one on each side of Sasuke's head. Their hearts were beating quickly, threatening to jump out of their chests.

Sasuke's thought process stopped, his mind going blank. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was left inarticulate. He did not know what there was to say, anyway. He comprehended nothing, he took no notice of his surroundings; he simply kept his eyes focused, staring at the solemn and contemplative face hovering only inches away from his. Naruto searched Sasuke's face for any indication of what he may be feeling or thinking, but found nothing, and decided to proceed. Finally, after all the uncertainty and delaying, he was going to go through with telling, or more so, showing Sasuke how strongly he felt for him. After that, he would simply squeeze his eyes shut tight and hope that those feelings might just be mutual.  
He knew that he could no longer go back.

"Yet we spend every day together..." Naruto murmured, his voice barely a whisper. He looked into Sasuke's dark, hazy eyes for a moment and then dropped his head lower, bringing his lips to the Sasuke's ear. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" He asked quietly, his lips brushing against Sasuke's ear as he spoke. He did not receive a response and shifted his position, resting his forehead on Sasuke's, locking eyes, black becoming lost in blue. Naruto's golden hair brushed against Sasuke's face, tickling his skin and leaving a tingling sensation in every place it touched. Sasuke could feel Naruto's breath on his face; he was breathing slowly and silently. He sat still, wondering why he was doing nothing, why he could not move, and why he had no desire to move. He had been right when he thought that he had a reason to be apprehensive.

"I was never that good with words, so..." Naruto started, his whisper trailing off into nothing. Sasuke closed his eyes slowly; he was certain of what was coming next. "I hope this explains it..."

Naruto moved his head the last inch and placed his lips on Sasuke's. After a brief, hesitant moment he began to move his lips against those of Sasuke. He kissed him gently, softly, as he did the other times, and yet somehow this time was different. All his feeling, his passion and his intensity, his warmth, vehemence, and avidity put into a simple display of affection, in an attempt to make Sasuke understand what he had been trying to say since the night of the party. An everyday act between couples, something that was thought commonplace, yet it was supposedly the equivalent of the most brilliant three words that anyone could ever dream of hearing.

_I love you._

In no way could this ever be called an accident. There would be no running away or turning around; they would have to face the fact that they had kissed ever so zealously, and that their feelings for each other were so palpable. As the kiss deepened and the need to take a breath became stronger, a single thought crossed Naruto's mind.

_Tomorrow has finally come._

Naruto pulled away slowly, panting, trying to catch his breath. He did not climb off Sasuke; he remained hovering over him, his face still inches from the other boy's. He inhaled deeply, attempting to lower his sky-rocketing heart rate. Even though the kiss was over, his heart still pounded quickly with uncertainty. Some part of him remained unconvinced. He was anxious to see Sasuke's reaction and nervous to know if he had just ruined their relationship, or succeeded with taking it one step further, closer to what he wanted it to be.

Naruto watched Sasuke intently, staying completely silent and still, waiting for some sort of response. Finally, his eyes fluttered open, his dark irises looking hazy and dazed. He tilted his head back slightly and stared up at Naruto, as if he was waiting for something. Naruto returned his gaze, remaining silent. A few long seconds passed, and finally, Sasuke spoke. "Why did you do that?" He asked in a hoarse whisper, his face unreadable.

Naruto tensed, becoming nervous. He drew his fingers into a loose fist, dragging them across the sheets and wrinkling them in the process. That was not what he had anticipated; he knew that this could happen, but he had hoped, he made himself believe that it would not. Naruto pulled himself up into a sitting position, looking down at Sasuke with an apprehensive expression. "I-I don't know..." He stammered, lying. Judging by the look on Sasuke's face, that was not the best thing he could have said. "Sasuke, I'm so sorry…"

Sasuke sat up, propping himself up with his elbows. He scoffed, looking sardonic. "Of course you don't know," he said, completely disregarding Naruto's apology.

Naruto stiffened, his eyebrows slowly dipping downward. His jaw tightened and he almost glared at Sasuke, a suspicious look in his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He sat up abruptly, a vicious glare on his face. Naruto blinked, taken aback, shocked by his sudden anger. In no way was this going as he had expected, much less as he had wanted. "It means when are you going to stop sending me mixed messages? You always flirt with me, then you end up _kissing_ me, then you say it was nothing or some other _shit_," he snapped, his voice rising in volume. "Every _fucking_ time."

Naruto could not believe it was coming to this. Hardly a couple of minutes had passed since they shared that intimate kiss, and now Sasuke was shouting at him, looking more enraged than he had ever seen him. Instantly, he became angry, though in reality, he did not want to be."Oh, what? Now we're talking about the party?" He asked rhetorically. "What was I supposed to say? You ran off. That's not exactly the reaction I was looking for. I wasn't expecting you to explode at me either, this time."

Sasuke just stared at him, looking as incredulous as someone with his apathetic disposition could possibly look. "So," he started, a cynical frown evident on his face, "you're saying that I was supposed to kiss you like there was no tomorrow? Like some sort of _slut_?" Naruto winced at his harsh tone and his biting words. Naruto wanted to clamp his hands over his ears and drown everything out, deny it was happening, or go back in time and fix everything. Although, he could not grasp what he had done that was so wrong it made Sasuke so livid and disgusted. It could have been something that he had said, or perhaps something that he had failed to say.

Naruto could not bear Sasuke's gaze, which burned a hole directly through him. "Ye-" the blonde began, stopping himself before he could even finish the word, "no...I mean, I...I don't know, Sasuke." He said with a sigh and pulled himself off the bed-and away from Sasuke-and walked to the center of the room. He stood there, his back to Sasuke. He ran his hands through his golden hair roughly, the bed squeaking slightly as Sasuke sat up, glaring daggers at Naruto's back.

"This is what I mean. How am I supposed to know how to react when you don't even know what you want?" He asked, standing up. At least this time when he spoke, his tone was more relenting and less harsh, but of course, it did not indicate that his anger had suddenly vanished into an utterly different emotion. No one was that mercurial, especially not Sasuke, no matter how much Naruto wished he was at the time. Naruto turned to face him slowly, his cerulean eyes melancholy.

"I do know what I want..I...Sasuke, was that one kiss really nothing? Did any of them mean anything?" Naruto asked solemnly, that undeniable sincerity returning to his eyes once more. Sasuke did not utter a word. He averted his eyes and stared at the carpet, as if it was suddenly so much more interesting than the current argument. At Sasuke's silence, Naruto decided to continue speaking. "Because, for me, it was everything. I...I lied, Sasuke. I think...I lie a lot about things concerning, well, us." _If I can even call it that._

"Well this is all new, interesting information," Sasuke snarled sardonically, locking eyes with Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened briefly, and then narrowed as he glowered at Sasuke. No matter how many times he told himself that this was real, that they were yelling at each other like this, his mind could not seem to register it properly. Though, at the moment, the yelling was mostly on Sasuke's part, but Naruto planned to change that soon. He tried to delineate his feelings, and it might not have come out as eloquently as he had wanted, he had said it nevertheless. For his efforts, he received nasty, sarcastic remarks as a response.

"Sasuke," he growled, his voice thick with irritation, stepping closer, "you fucking coward. I'm being serious. This conversation _is_ serious. I just told you that I lied. That kiss meant a lot to me. I just told you that I-" He paused for a short second. "Like you. I care for you more than I should! Now, tell me...how do you feel about me?" He inquired, hoping that he would not have to pry it out of him. He took a few more steps forward, hovering dangerously close.

Sasuke swallowed and maintained eye contact with Naruto, unconsciously taking a step back. Now, he was undoubtedly angered. It was palpably there in his blue eyes.

"You're my best friend. I'll admit that...I do..." He trailed off, leaving his words lingering in the air. Naruto stared at him intensely, impatiently, waiting for him to continue, urging him on with his expectant expression. And yet, Sasuke remained silent.

"Admit that you what?" Naruto pressed, his heart beating rapidly.

"I do care for you, but..." Once more, Sasuke failed to continue. Naruto drew closer, making Sasuke back up into the wall. Sasuke wondered how someone so carefree, cheerful, and understanding could turn out to be so intimidating when angered. Naruto placed hands on the wall, one arm on each side of Sasuke, boxing him in.

"But what? That's enough, isn't it?" He purred, resting his forehead on Sasuke's. In response to his action, Sasuke gave him the most vicious glower he could muster in this situation. Just because he was backed up against a wall, with nowhere to go, that did not mean that he would surrender.

"How do I know that you aren't lying?" Sasuke retorted through clenched teeth. "After all, you did say that you lie a lot around me," he hissed, throwing Naruto's previous words back at him.

"Sasuke, I have no reason to lie," Naruto stated, staring into his dark eyes, searching for any hints that he might actually believe him. He had to. "You already know how I feel. Why can't you understand that? At this point, how would contradicting everything I just said and lying about my feelings do either of us any good?" Naruto questioned, his eyes narrowing further. When he spoke, he spoke quietly, in a harsh and accusing whisper. Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but before he could even utter a word Naruto covered Sasuke's mouth with his own.

He pressed his lips against Sasuke's hard, much in contrast to the sweet and tender kiss they shared only minutes before. Once he succeeded in silencing him he continued to kiss him forcefully. Sasuke struggled, trying to slide away from Naruto, but he was pinned roughly against the wall as payment for trying to escape. Sasuke had never seen this side of him before; he could feel how angry Naruto was as he smacked his lips against his own. He opened his mouth to try to speak, to yell at Naruto, but he moaned instead. Naruto did not even smile triumphantly. He continued on with the vehement kiss, biting hard on Sasuke's bottom lip and thrusting his tongue into the Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke succumbed into the kiss, draping his arms around the taller boy's neck. He halted all resistance and began to kiss Naruto back, entangling his tongue in his. He knew that he would hate himself for submitting; actually, he already did. In the back of his mind, he questioned his weakness, and why he could not tear himself from Naruto, like he wanted to. At least, he told himself that he wanted that; he would never admit that he was enjoying the kiss.

Naruto pulled away abruptly and rested his forehead against Sasuke's once more as he panted heavily. He had no idea what he was thinking anymore. It was as if he had no control of his actions. He had not planned on suddenly kissing Sasuke like that; he simply did. Then again, he had not planned any of this. He had never been in a circumstance like this before, so he could not have anticipated how he would behave.

Sasuke was also panting, overcome with disgust for himself. His arms slid off of Naruto's shoulders and fell limply at his sides, dangling there awkwardly as he leant against the wall, using it for support. He could not even describe how his legs felt; he was just trying to prevent himself from collapsing. Naruto took a few steps back and Sasuke looked up, meeting his gaze. He wiped his glossy lips with the back of his hand and then stared Sasuke down, a look that Sasuke had never seen before present in his blue eyes.

"There's your proof that I'm not lying," Naruto declared, inspecting Sasuke's face. "That's what you wanted...isn't it?" He asked, his voice almost taunting. He was so angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed with everything that had been occurring lately that he did not even feel like the same person anymore. All he knew was that he had enough of playing friends and running in useless circles around one another.

"_Get the hell away from me_!" Sasuke shouted, but his actions betrayed his words. He stood still, not moving from his spot against the wall, even though Naruto was now standing away from him. _I feel so pathetic..._

"This is why I kept my feelings to myself. Why the hell did I have to fall for you? The most self-centered, arrogant bastard on the face of the Earth. You can't just open up to someone, can you? If someone tries to unfreeze that heart of yours, you just push them away. You don't let anyone in, including me," he growled, clenching his fists. _And as of right now, especially me..._

"You don't understand. This is the closest I've ever been to anyone, and it's hard..." He struggled with his words, an edge of desperation to his voice. He was anxious; he felt weak and pathetic and everything that he hated about himself was beginning to surface, even if he was doing everything in his power to maintain his apathetic disposition. Only Naruto could ever do something like this to him.

"Well, guess what, you're not making it any easier," Naruto said, his expression wintry. He knew he was being cruel, but he could not stop himself. _Damn my temper, damn it all._

"Neither are you!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto blamed him for this, when Sasuke did nothing but try to push him away initially, in order to keep things like this from happening. Although, he had not expected for anyone in the world to ever fall for him, much less Naruto. "You're the only person who has seen the real me. I'm not always so closed-off and cold, and you know it."

"I guess I should feel pretty special then, huh?" Naruto commented caustically.

Sasuke glowered at him savagely, wanting to rip that skeptical look off his face. He wondered if Naruto realized what he was saying. When Sasuke actually started to try to express the way he felt, Naruto was so atrocious that he shot him right down. "Naruto..." He growled ominously, his jaw clenched tightly.

Naruto just stared at him for a second with eyes that gave away nothing. Sasuke could no longer read them like an open book. "I know about your past, Sasuke, and I know that you've been through hell. My life wasn't a walk in the park, either. But is it really that hard to trust again? I put up with you, and work so damn hard to even be able to get close to you! And now you can't even say how you feel about me? You can't tell me the fucking truth? Tell me that you feel the same way, that you at least like me back and care for me as much as I care for you!" Naruto demanded, his voice rising in volume, drawing a shaky breath after he finished speaking. He then stared at Sasuke expectantly.

Sasuke stood silently, trembling, his hands clenched into tight fists. "If I'm so hard to put up with," he wanted to know, "why do you go so far for me?"

Naruto sighed loudly, clearly exasperated, digging his hands into his golden hair. "Sasuke, how many times do I have to say it?" He shouted, gesticulating with frustration. He paused and met eyes with Sasuke, staring into his obsidian irises. Again, he sighed and glanced away from Sasuke, looking down at an empty space beside him. "You're supposed to be the smart one, Sasuke," he murmured, speaking quietly and softly, his voice almost in a whisper. "It's so simple," Naruto said, scoffing lightly.

"I already told you what you wanted to hear, didn't I? So what's the problem now? It's your turn to tell me how you feel. I want to hear those words, Sasuke. I'd be quite disappointed to find out that my affection is going to end up being one-sided," he finished, eyeing Sasuke, and was only met with silence. "Tell me that the feeling is mutual," he demanded, practically growling, trying to control his frustration. "If you'd just give me a chance..."

"To what?" Sasuke finally spoke, snapping. "_Love me_?" He shouted, repugnance toward himself evident in his countenance.

Naruto merely glanced down, and when he lifted his head, he nodded. "..Yes," he answered, speaking with confidence and certainty.

Sasuke stared at him, slightly surprised, dubiousness written all over his face. "How can you say that?" He asked fiercely, appearing infuriated. "Loving someone like me is impossible! I intended for it to be that way!"

Naruto, though, was impervious to Sasuke's obvious anger and stood his ground. "I do, and that's all that matters," he admitted with certitude. Sasuke just scoffed, still incredulous.

"What is it? The way I look, the way I make death threats, the way I'm problematic and argue with you, the way I always glower and frown? Or maybe, it's simply the fact that I'm an arrogant bastard that makes me so desirable," Sasuke spat sarcastically, taking a few threatening steps toward Naruto.

Naruto took a few steps forward and reached out with one of his arms, attempting to grab hold of one of Sasuke's hands. As soon as Naruto's hand touched his, Sasuke promptly yanked his arm away. "Just..." Naruto started, a frown on his face. He sighed in exasperation and struggled to find the right words. He looked up, and blue met black. "Just, look...Is loving someone like me impossible?"

"I don't think so, since that Sakura is still obsessing over you," Sasuke pointed out stiffly.

Naruto wanted to scream in frustration. _No matter how hard I try..!_ "Will you just quit it, Sasuke?" He yelled, looking wild. "Don't you understand what I'm asking here? I'm speaking in terms of you! It doesn't matter if you're not the best person I could've fallen for...I'm just saying, is there any chance that we have mutual feelings for each other? Or is my affection towards you simply hopeless...?"

"Why? Why does it matter? Would it do you any good if I said yes?" Sasuke demanded, shouting again.

Naruto felt no necessity to think about his answer and responded immediately. "...Yes, of course," he told him, speaking with absolute certainty. Not one part of him went against what he was saying. Not his expression, his eyes, his body language, nor was there a single hint of dubiousness laced within his words. To that, Sasuke did not respond, and simply glanced at the floor, averting his eyes away from Naruto's. He could not look his eyes anymore; it was if he was looking directly into the blazing sun.

"You're so blind, Sasuke..."

"So," Sasuke began, drawing in a ragged breath. "So I'm not the best at dealing with so many emotions at once, and I admit that," he dropped his voice to a low murmur, "I don't know love when I see it."

Naruto took this as a chance to approach him further. He walked a few steps closer, and then halted when Sasuke glared at him, daring him to come any closer with his menacing coal eyes. "But what if someone opened your eyes and helped you see it? Why can't you just say it? You keep on denying your feelings and...and you refuse to...love me," Naruto said, sounding hesitant at the end of his statement.

Sasuke sighed, irritated. "I don't know, alright? Naruto, I'm doing things that I normally would've never done, thought, or said...I'm out of character, contradicting myself, and going against everything I have been telling myself all these past years, and destroying the barriers I set up separating me from the world. I don't even know who I've turned into, I'm no longer Sasuke Uchiha...and it's all for, and because of, you, Naruto..." He divulged, frowning at him. Naruto merely blinked, taken back by what he said. _So now he's blaming me for his behavior?_ He thought, his anger beginning to build again. "...I _hate_ it."

Naruto's eyes briefly widened in surprise, but then quickly narrowed. A low, feral growl emitted from him, a rumble from deep in his chest. Sasuke ignored this, and continued on, yelling once more. "I wanted things to stay as they once were!"

"I knew it," Naruto uttered, speaking in a surly manner. "You're just too aloof and so much better than all of us that you can't even fucking interact. You little bastard," he hissed, and then paused for a short moment. "Well, I'm sorry that I absolutely destroyed your already pathetic and miserable life, shattered your barriers, uplifted the fucking clouds and shed a little light on your life. It's _all_ my fault," Naruto sneered, radiating hostility and speaking with cruelty. "You know what? You'll get things to be back to normal soon enough."

_I can't say that I didn't try...But...I just wish...It's too late for that now_.

And with that, he turned around and started walking away. Sasuke's breath hitched in his throat, and he stood there, watching as Naruto briskly approached the door. Sasuke would not let him leave, not until they resolved this, whatever this was. And if anyone was going to walk out on the other in the middle of a heated argument, it would be him. Not the other way around. Sasuke lurched forward and quickly followed him. He wanted to stop him, somehow.

"Naruto!" He called, not caring how weak and utterly pathetic he sounded. Naruto was not going to leave, he would not allow it. "You...what the hell are you saying, Uzumaki?"

Naruto halted his march out of the room, but he did not bother to turn around to face Sasuke. He stood his ground, his back facing Sasuke. "I'm saying that I'm out of here, _Uchiha_. For good. Go ahead and brood in your fucking dark corner again for all I care, you heartless son of a bitch." Naruto knew that he was being irrationally cruel, but he still could not help it. He wanted to hurt him. After all, he would only be returning the favor. He knew that he would regret this later, but frankly, he could not have cared less at that moment. He wondered if everything he had thought to encourage himself earlier had been some sort of lie or an illusion, because none of that seemed to matter now. He had thought that nothing bad would happen, that no matter what they would remain friends, but that was when he did not consider the possibility of Sasuke yelling at him; or the possibility that a kiss would not be enough and that their past together would surface.

All along, he had thought that Sasuke was the one he would have to worry about, but now he realized how wrong he had been. Now, he was the one trying to walk out the door, just to get away from this confusion, hurt, and rejection. He was unsure if Sasuke had truly rejected him, but he felt as if he had, therefore the facts did not matter to him. He did not care that the last time he glanced at him, Sasuke looked as though he might start sobbing soon. He just wanted to run.

"I did say, I wanted things to return to normal, but..." Sasuke said shakily, hoping that the utter desperation in his voice would make Naruto stop and turn back around.

Naruto turned his head slightly, so that he could see Sasuke from the corner of his eye. He had never seen Sasuke look so broken. He was trembling, his body tense and ready to spring at him, a look in his eyes like Naruto had never seen before, a mixture of fury, despondence, misery and contempt. Naruto grinned meanly, even though in no way did he feel like smiling, even if it was with sarcasm. "Oh? Uchiha's having second thoughts? Some advice, think before you fucking act."

_A little advice for the both of us._

Naruto walked up to the door and grasped the doorknob, swinging it open. Sasuke, without a second thought, darted to the door and stopped in front of Naruto, blocking the exit. "I am thinking!" He yelled insistently. "But you don't understand. I'm not used to any of this, all these emotions..."

"Lucky for you, it won't be necessary to get used to them. They'll be gone as soon as I walk out this door."

"How the fuck do you know?" He asked, trying to sound harsh, but his voice wavered with emotion. A strange lump began to form in his throat; he had no idea what was happening to him.

"Well, we won't know for sure until I try. Shall I?" Naruto prompted, his voice mock-chipper. Sasuke glanced up and met eyes with Naruto, afraid of what he would find. His usually bright blue eyes, illuminated by his cheerfulness, were dark, hard, and empty. He regretted deciding to make eye contact with him instantly.

_This isn't Naruto. It can't be. This isn't the person I know, the person who is my best friend...or the person I have grown to love. This is someone else,_ Sasuke thought frantically, trying to convince himself that Naruto could not have such a monster within him.

"Don't you dare..." he warned, though he had no threat to back up his statement. "I'm not done talking to you… I still have a lot I want to say...I-I..." Sasuke stammered, trailing off. He could hardly believe that he, the aloof, apathetic Sasuke Uchiha, was at a loss for words. He was not always who he seemed to be and Naruto could clearly see that.

"Uchiha, I'm obviously not doing you any good. You can't possibly want me to stay unless you're masochistic. So, for the good of the both of us, I'll be going. I may not catch anyone I'll feel more for, but anyone's better than you. Don't worry, I'm just another person you pushed away."

"You're not..." Sasuke started, stuttering and tripping over his words, becoming inarticulate. He swallowed hard, trying to rid if the lump in his throat.

"I am, you've made it quite clear," Naruto asserted, his voice even. He was staring straight ahead, as if Sasuke were not there. He was looking past him; looking through him. Sasuke stared at his face for a brief moment, incredulous. He did not move, but he allowed himself to be easily pushed aside as Naruto walked out the door. _I've given up, haven't I?_ Sasuke thought. Not once did Naruto look back and as he strode out the door and down the hallway, fingering his car keys in his pocket. There was nowhere to go now but the nearest bar. As if drowning his sorrows in alcohol was going to do anything good for him, other make him smile. After all, one would have to be completely wasted in order to be grinning contently after such an argument.

He walked down the hallway, his expression cold, ignoring the calls of Sasuke. Sasuke yelled his name continually, almost madly, over and over. He could not stop. He could not stop shaking, either. He kept on staring at the door expectantly, waiting for a man with golden hair emerge from down the hall, in hopes that Naruto would come back. He knew it was futile, though.

"You goddamned bastard!" He screamed, an unfamiliar sensation burning and tingling in his eyes. "See what you do to me?" He paused, and realized that for the first time in years, tears were threatening to spill, forming at the corners of his eyes. At that moment, he was so overwhelmed that he did not care. He did not try to hold them back.

"_I fucking hate you_."

With that last statement, he staggered to the floor and let out a sob. So this was his punishment for letting a person become close to him. He knew it was a bad idea, he should have never allowed it to reach this point. Naruto must have been down the hallway by now, and now that he was sure that he had no audience, he began to openly weep on the floor of his room. He felt weak, powerless, pathetic, hurt, revolted, and utterly disgusted with himself. Maybe he deserved this, after all.

_Everyone knows it's wrong when a person like me feels._

* * *

(A/n:) Ah, so yeah. Tell me what you think? I guess. I don't know. (sigh) Whatever. For a second there (cough. it was longer than that) in the fight, we had Rapist!Naruto on our hands. If this was not AU, that would've been the point in which Kyuubi comes out and his eyes get all red and sexy.

And oh my jesus Sasuke crying? It's the apocalypse! Aaahh! Run for your very lives! (darts to safety. and away from the oncoming rocks) Um, I hope that wasn't OOC, and If it was, frankly I don't give a shit. Because I had too much fun making Sasuke cry. Yes, I am very, very evil indeed. Can't say that I didn't warn you. :3


	16. Blind

I'm not dead! Um. Wow. SO MANY REVIEWS! o.o Gahh. I lost count again. Um, I have no idea who the sixth hundredth reviewer was. You people have to claim these titles, dammit! You can't rely on my (lack of) counting skillz! Also, I was surprised about how much authoress-power I have. Um, I'm sorry I made everyone cry! -COUGH- I was also surprised by how many people felt solely bad for Sasuke. _Sasuke. _Sure, he's crying an' shit, but what about Naruto-kun? He's hurtin' too!

**SMILE. SONRISA. SOURIRE. **You get the idea. :)

_Disclaimer_: I own nada. Si, es verdad. Pero el cuerpo de Naruto-kun es _muy_ sexy, y yo quiero lo. Even if he's all drunk right now.

_Warnings: _The usual, plus the Return of the Weasel, underage drinking, one-sided NaruSaku, SuperEmo!Sasuke and the continuation of the angst shit (?).  
_  
You know what? JUST REVIEW, DAMMIT! (If you like) If you don't like and for some reason unbeknownst to me STILL review, go screw yourself. If you don't like it, you shouldn't even BE this far in the story in the first place. So there. Send me reviews so I can get high off of them. Thank you and enjoy._

* * *

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: BLIND**

Sasuke had not known that the human body was capable of producing such an innumerable amount of tears, much less his own body. No matter how hard he tried he could not stop; he would continue to remember the reason why he was crying in the first place. It hurt just to think about it; everything hurt. Every time he took another gasping, ragged breath and his lungs expanded, it felt like his chest was about to cave in and all the bones in his rib cage were about to break. When he inhaled a sufficient amount of air, he would simply waste it on the useless action of sobbing more. Crying hysterically on the floor of a room accomplished nothing, but announcing the weakness of the weeping person to the world. That was what Sasuke was; weak. Self-hate filled every single part of him. He had thought he was physically incapable of crying; he had not done so since the horrible massacre years ago.

His cold, apathetic, wintry mask never once had cracked, and his lips had never once twitched with the slightest hint of a smile. No sign of emotion had ever become apparent in his eyes or in his actions. Naruto had been correct in that respect-undoubtedly, Sasuke Uchiha had been frozen. As he wept on the floor relentlessly, he realized that he was melting; melting all too quickly so that his feelings were coming out at once, in one enormous, emotional mess. He cried because he loathed himself, because of how Naruto had walked out on him, because of how stupid he was for not settling for a mere kiss. The chances that anyone in the world would fall in love with him again were even slimmer than the chances of anyone falling for him in the first place. When presented with his only opportunity for happiness, he doubted and yelled at it until he sent it sauntering out the door. In the back of his mind, he knew that this was not entirely his fault; he knew that walking away had been that bastard's own choice. Even though he may have caused that decision, Naruto decided to do that of his own will. Sasuke had not encouraged him to leave. He tried to stop him. He abandoned every ounce of pride that he had to try to stop him, which only led him to becoming a hysterical mess of tears.

He had lost sense of time. Everything seemed to be repeating over and over again. He would think the same thoughts continually and weep pathetically. Nothing prevented those thoughts from coming back. He did not want to think about anything. He wished that his mind could be swept clear for a moment, so he could be left to cry pointlessly on the floor until he emptied himself of all his tears and emotions. Maybe Naruto was right, he thought, maybe they would leave soon after he walked out the door. Soon, he would revert to his usual self, his mask placed over his countenance, unbroken, with cold eyes and unsmiling lips. He doubted that he could consider that an improvement over the pitiful emotional heap he was now. Sasuke wondered if he would really feel better without than obnoxious, blond idiot at his side.

Perhaps he would, though he knew that would probably not be the case. The space at his side had been empty before, though knowing that it had once been filled would make it all the worse. At this moment, he could not comprehend how he had endured all those lonely years without breaking down. Sasuke had all the right reasons to sob; all Naruto had done was give him a push in the right direction. The fact that Naruto had such a monster lurking beneath his vivacious, optimistic exterior left him incredulous. Despite Naruto's obvious short temper, he had not known that he could be so severe when angry. Then again, Sasuke realized that he was unaware of how Naruto felt. The amount of time the entire situation had been bothering him and the amount of courage it took for him to come forward were unknown to Sasuke. He had known the extent of the affect of his reluctance on Naruto until he was gone. His reluctance had not been the only factor, though; they had been in an intense argument over something extremely complicated. Sasuke could only imagine how the fury in his own eyes as he screamed at Naruto had impacted the blond.

All of the culpability could not be dumped on Naruto. After all, he was evidently dumb enough to chase after someone like Sasuke; dumb enough to think that there could actually be a functional, romantic relationship between the two of them. After all, Sasuke was blind. He was stubborn, arrogant, cynical, cold, and indifferent. He was the embodiment of every bad quality that a person could possibly have. Sasuke told himself that it was impossible for Naruto to have fallen in love with him. Naruto was tormenting him intentionally by claiming to have such feelings. If Naruto returned and saw him bawling on the floor, Naruto would laugh. He would take advantage of his weakness and make him feel worthless. At this thought, he only cried harder. This is what thinking did to him.

He sat up and drew his legs close, resting his head on his knees and sobbing into them. Sasuke did not even know how to cry properly. He failed to remember what one was supposed to do when weeping. He merely sat there, letting the tears flow like a waterfall. The small drops slid down his pale cheek and he did not bother to wipe them away. He choked on his own tears and gasped for air. He felt as if he was drowning. His eyes ached and he hoped that he would soon cry himself dry. His face was contorted strangely, unused to crying. He was incredibly thirsty, only tasting the salt from his tears. Sasuke let go of his legs, fell out of his sitting position, and lay across the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Finally, the tears began to lessen and he no longer sounded as if he was being strangled to death; he let the tears flow silently. That, though, did not mean that he did not feel like screaming. He wanted to let out all of his pestering feelings in a loud yell, one so loud that everyone on Earth would hear him. Even Naruto; especially him.

_You see what you do to me? I fucking hate you. Why did you have to come along and complicate everything? I was fine...I was fine before. I don't need you. I never needed anyone. It was intended to be that way...this is what I get for growing close to someone. Everything thrown back in my fucking face. The gods are laughing at me. Naruto is laughing at me. I'm just some joke. I fucking hate you, Naruto. This would've never happened if...I wouldn't be so fucking emotionally inept and inhuman if it wasn't for...I fucking hate you, Itachi. Don't think that I forgot about you. I hate everybody and everything including myself...Why can't I just stop crying?_

Sasuke choked back another sob, his tears returning. Just when he thought that they were going to stop, they came back at full force. They would not leave him alone. His past would not leave him alone. This time, as the tears flew down his face, he wiped them away vehemently, trying to rub his eyes dry. All through this he began murmuring incoherently through his crying. That was fine with him though; it was not as if he was talking to anyone or his words were intended for anyone to hear. He cursed profusely, spitting out every single profanity he knew in a colorful slew of words. Sasuke uttered names such as 'Naruto' and 'Itachi' and even the names of his parents. He mentioned words such as 'alone' and 'hate' and 'love'. The rest of what he said was not understandable and were just muffled sounds mixed with his sobs.

He contemplated surrendering to the tears. He thought about surrendering entirely, to everything. How and why he had not realized that he had lived for nothing for so long was a mystery to him. He had no motivation or purpose to awaken each morning and force himself out of bed, to open his shades and have the resplendent sun blind him, or to meander through every day as if he was the only person in existence. All he would do was trudge slowly through life, whereas the rest of the world seemed to be on fast-forward.

Sasuke decided to halt his train of thought before it was transformed into actions. He forced himself to move and he crawled onto his bed, attempting to fall into a dreamless sleep. For a short time, he would be given a taste of the thoughtlessness and nothingness that was death. Hopefully, when he awoke, he would be able to refrain from breaking out into petty, forlorn, degrading tears, fueled by self-pity.

Indulging in sadness and feeling sorry for oneself achieved nothing. Although people claimed that that weeping made one feel better, relieved, and renewed, all that Sasuke felt was misery. Crying made him realize the extent of his powerlessness and hopelessness. Nothing that could be considered good came from the useless act of sobbing. Sasuke refused to be absorbed in his own sadness.

Finally, he had succeeded in mitigating his tears. When he thought that the last crystal drop had been shed, he hesitated for a moment before turning away from the wall. Once he faced the rest of his room, his eyes locked on immediately to the only colorful and radiant thing in the entire room. The picture that Naruto had given him, in which the two boys were standing close to each other; in which Naruto's face was glowing with happiness.

Wearily, he forced himself to stand. Once he had both of his feet planted firmly on the ground and was no longer teetering from side to side, he dragged himself towards the picture. Carefully, with one trembling, pale hand, he picked up the photo and gazed at it, meticulously inspecting its every detail. Even though he had initially hesitated about being drawn so close to Naruto, he could tell that he had become comfortable with the Naruto's arm being draped around him. As he had stated previously, the fact that he did not kill Naruto for putting ink all over his face meant that he was okay with it, and okay with him. Though he was not wearing an exuberant smile nor were his eyes blatantly glittering with happiness, Sasuke could tell that he had been very content in that picture. He had never seen himself looking so alive. The only photos he had of himself were from his childhood, which were locked inside a chest and buried away, forever hidden in his closet. When he would look at himself in the mirror, all he would see was a ghost as his reflection. Yet, in the picture, maybe he did not appear as pallid as usual, with a hint of color to his cheeks, and maybe his coal eyes were not narrowed, frozen over, or nebulous. A smile was not necessary to be obviously content.

Even though, Sasuke realized, to anyone else, he would look no different. But he knew himself, at least, he thought he had, and Naruto knew him. Naruto could see that he had been happy at the time the picture had been taken, even though the corners his lips curved downward in a small frown. Naruto could see beyond his mask. Sasuke considered that his uncaring and cold face fooled him no longer. If he was actually able to see through him, perhaps there was a chance that something could exist between them.

Sasuke wanted to hit himself. The tears were starting to come back. His eyes were beginning to tingle, his vision was becoming blurred, and he could not swallow the lump in his throat. At least this time, he could recognize the signs. Before he could break down once more, he placed the picture frame back on his desk, face down. He did not need to be looking at pictures of the past. For a moment, he had contemplated retrieving that chest out from his closet, thinking that he could handle looking at photos from his childhood. Yet again, he proved to be weak.

Before he could collapse onto the floor once more, he turned to the vase on his desk, beside the picture, and yanked the roses out. He had knocked down the vase in the process, causing the glass to shatter all over his desk and onto the floor, spilling dirty water everywhere. In that moment, he could have cared less about the mess, and left it there. He walked briskly to his trash can on the other side of the room and stepped on the pedal to open it, then threw the flowers inside of it with the rest of his garbage, where they belonged. He did not need to be reminded of anything; he did not need to feel any worse. The shards of glass and the spilled water were a problem, though, not because of the mess they created, but because they were a reminder. The shards had once been pieces of a vase which held flowers given to him by Naruto and the water had once kept those flowers alive.

_Later_, he told himself, _I'll leave everything for later._

He staggered back to his bed and collapsed onto it, feeling his body going limp. He closed his eyes. A few tears fell across his face and over his nose until they dripped onto his bed, leaving damp, dark spots on his sheets. Sasuke was so exhausted from crying and thinking that sleep actually seemed possible. He found himself drifting off; before he was completely lost to sleep, he opened his eyes, only enough to see the overturned picture on his desk. After glancing at it, he shut his eyes once more and fell into a dreamless slumber.

There were no nightmares rooted in the reality of his past, and no dreams where he relived the few happy moments of his life. There were no bleak, colorless images of Itachi and no animated, bright images of Naruto. There was simply brilliant, glorious nothingness.

* * *

_It was pure wonder that brought him there._

_It was interesting how the naive people around him meandered along, unaware that they were in extreme danger. Their ignorance led them to believe that there was a very slim chance that anything would ever happen to them. Every time they would see a news report relaying someone's misfortune, they would not take any more precautions. They would feel safe, thinking it was better somebody else than them. There were so many people in the world. No matter how small the percentage of something catastrophic happening to an individual, it always happened to someone, but many failed to realize that. They failed to sense the danger of brushing by a suspicious man which radiated malice. Even if they were in broad daylight and surrounded by throngs of people, it was irrelevant, they were still susceptible. _

_The dark alleys were only a few feet away._

_No wonder people brushed shoulders with him and bumped into him as he walked down the busy street without murmuring one apology. No wonder everyone seemed to not realize who he was. And his partner had told him to remain lurking in the shadows as he moved through the city so he would remain undiscovered. As if there was any chance of that occurring, with all the uninformed, callow people who were only concerned with getting wherever they needed or wanted to be. He knew he was right, since so far today, he had not heard any bothersome, wailing sirens chasing after him._

_He was not on an assignment. He walked through his old home, observing his surroundings and taking note of what had changed and what had remained untouched. It would be nostalgic if he had ever felt attached to the place. He was halted in front of a bakery, inspecting their bread through the window, when the roar of an engine caught his attention. He turned his head in the direction of the noise, showing no signs of curiosity on his unexpressive face. Across the street, there was a large campus-how had he not seen that earlier?-and outside of what he guessed to be the dormitory building, there was an ostentatious car revving its engine._

_He would have turned away from the blindingly orange car if he had not noticed who the driver was. He recognized him vaguely, though he could not recall from where. He was tanned, tall, and had golden blond hair. The man had barely closed the door of his car and he was already rushing down the street, his anger palpable due to the reckless manner in which he drove. Ah, now he remembered. The blond one was from about a week ago; he had crossed paths with him at a diner where he was supposed to meet that idiot partner of his. The blond one had come from a table where his little brother had been sitting, though he had doubted that they had been sharing a meal together. Last time they had seen each other, he was certain that he had scarred him to the point of social isolation. Yet, there he was, eating breakfast with the blond one. How odd._

_The two of them had seemed rather close, by his observations. Maybe the blond one had a bit of a quarrel with his little brother. He turned away from the bakery window, realizing that standing there so long in the bright light had caused someone inside to recognize him, and they were frantically dialing nine-one-one. How tedious; he was not much in the mood to be playing hide-and-seek with the city's police force. His business here was done temporarily; he would be leaving soon anyway. They needed not waste their time on him, but those floundering idiots failed to realize that. Before the sirens were within ear shot, he decided that he would pay a visit to his little brother. He found himself wondering how he was fairing these days; and how he had not yet committed suicide._

_He walked to the corner and waited until it was the appropriate time for him to cross to the other side of the street. Once there, he approached the campus, effortlessly finding his way around anyone that may be problematic, and strolled into the dorm building with ease. There were many doors, though most seemed to be unoccupied, and he made his way to the stairs and climbed to the second level, each step he took echoing through the silence of the building. When he came to the second level, an odd sound reached his ears. It was a pathetic, choking, wailing noise, as if someone was being strangled. Whatever the noise was, it was somewhat of an annoyance to his ears. He realized that it was not the cries of someone being strangled, but the cries of someone who was emotionally overwhelmed and distraught. Someone was sobbing._

_He stood near the stairs for a few minutes, remaining completely silent, hardly breathing, and listening to the noise. It would not halt nor would it falter. It was very strange-what could have brought on this insufferable wailing? He had not heard anything like this since the night he decided to rid himself of his pestering clan. Even then nobody screamed like this, except for his little brother. In his kind mercilessness, he had given the rest of his family members quick deaths, incorporating as little pain as possible._

_He wandered over to the room, so silent and stealthy that it was as if he was a ghost moving down the hallway. His stealth was unnecessary, though, since nothing could be heard over the cries, but it was simply habitual._

_The door was slightly open, leaving a thin crevice for him to peer in from. He looked into the room, and what he saw surprised him very slightly, though one could not tell by glancing at his apathetic countenance. His face was forever frozen in that lack of an expression. He should have realized it as soon as he first heard the familiar cries, but he would not have thought that it would be his little brother emitting the wails. He was on the floor, sitting there limply, and tears flowed from his eyes not unlike a waterfall. He assumed that this had to do with something that the blond one did. Though, in reality, it was strange for him to have even grown close to someone, and it was preposterous that he was crying over them._

_He had changed significantly over the years, though he had the same pale skin, as if he never stepped into the sun. He wore his raven hair in the same style as he did when they were children, though now he kept his bangs out of his face. He had grown taller, to an acceptable height for a man. His face had lost all its childish roundness and his features had become more defined. In no way did he hold the same innocence and naivety, though at that moment he looked completely vulnerable. As he cried, he could see that parts of the little brother that he knew had resurfaced._

_Itachi decided that he had seen enough, and that it was about time for his little visit to come to an end. He could now hear the sirens that were undoubtedly coming after him, and he began walking down the hallway, thinking about the scene that he had just witnessed. He had to say he was disappointed in his little brother; he expected more out of him after all of these years. Instead, he was a weak mess of emotions. How strange it was that Sasuke would be crying so unguardedly, over the blond one, no less._

_It was so, so strange._

* * *

His tires screeched to a halt as he parked horribly in an empty space, directly in front of the bar. He opened his door and stepped out, staring at the building in front of him. He asked himself if he was really going to do it; if he was going to walk inside and intoxicate himself until he passed out, allowing the darkness induced by alcohol to envelop him. That was his pathetic excuse for a solution to a problem, to make himself so drunk that he would forget everything and smile in a deranged illusion of happiness. He inspected the bar closely, realizing that it was the exact one that he had taken Sasuke to in a foolish attempt to make him to smile, months ago. He contemplated whether or not he should enter the bar, and he came to a conclusion that he did care that this was where everything had started. That was the past now.

He kept telling himself that. _I don't care...I don't..._

Naruto closed the door of his car and tossed the keys in his pocket, not even bothering to lock it. He trudged across the sidewalk and into the bar, lying fluently about his age. The dead, empty look in his eyes and the sincerity in his expression was enough to make him look years past twenty one. He staggered over to a stool and sat down, placing his elbows on the counter in front of him, his arms lying on it limply. Naruto asked for a beer and the bartender nodded, knowing that by his mirthless tone, it would be the first of many. When he received his drink, he just stared at it bleakly, hovering somewhere in between tears and hysterics.

His heart rate was beginning to decrease, though he still could hear and feel his pulse throughout his entire body. It was enough to prove to himself that he was still alive, despite the numbness in his limbs and the dead, hollow feeling in his chest. As he regarded his drink, trying to calm down, he somehow found it hard to believe everything that had just occurred. The adrenaline rush from the argument and speeding faded away; everything felt surreal. Naruto could not fathom the idea that just minutes ago, he had been angry beyond belief, so infuriated that he was screaming at Sasuke. He was so enraged that he became so overwhelmed that he had felt that he had no choice but to walk out the door, leaving Sasuke sobbing on the floor.

_Did I really do that? I can't even remember what it felt like to be so mad. Then, leaving made sense... Then again, shouting at Sasuke and making him cry made sense at that moment, too...What was I thinking? What am I thinking? I'm so stupid...I'm nothing but a foolish, dirty bastard...I blew everything...I destroyed every chance that we had at having anything. Even mere friendship. And now look at me. I'm at a bar, cheating my way out of everything and all my problems by passing out into nothingness. I'm pathetic...I-I can't believe I made him cry..._

Naruto stared down at his hands, the image becoming blurred as tears filled his eyes. He sniffed and wiped the corners of his eyes in a futile attempt to stop the tears from coming. Then, in the dorm room with Sasuke, in the middle of a heated argument with Sasuke's glare burning a hole through him, it had been so easy to be angry. Now, in the silence of the bar, he had to wonder whether or not he was insane. There was no way he could have been thinking straight. He wanted to punch himself for being such an idiot, beat himself up over it. After all, it was what he deserved. He regretted everything, even the tender, sweet kisses they had shared, even inviting him to be his date to the party. He regretted ever meeting him. He should have known that attempting to develop some sort of relationship with him would only lead to disaster. Ever since the day of that idiotic, shallow dare, no matter how excellent things seemed, they were slowly spiraling downward. Naruto knew that he must be insane, to ever have thought that things could work between them.

He was an optimistic fool who had made the grave mistake of falling in love with a dark, brooding stranger. Although he knew Sasuke better than anyone else, that did not mean that he truly knew Sasuke. If he had, then maybe he would have been able to predict how he would react; they would have remained in their flirty, happy illusion and perhaps things would have worked out. Naruto was no longer angry at Sasuke; he wondered how he ever could have been. Because he had let his anger control him, he was lonely, miserable, on the verge of tears, and about to become intoxicated. He watched as one of his tears fell from his cheek and landed inside of his beer. He placed his hand on the drink and tried to lift it to his mouth, but his arm remained stiff and rigid, as if the beverage weighed a ton.

So badly did he want to get drunk and forget everything, for just a little while, even if he knew that when he awakened with a hangover, he would feel even worse. Naruto decided that it would be worth it. But he still could not bring the drink to his lips to take the tiniest sip. Why should he give himself the satisfaction of forgetting everything and drifting off into blackness without a worry in the world? He brought this upon himself. He should have known that he would have to deal with the consequences, no matter how horrible they were. He deserved all the agony he felt. After all, he made the person he cared about most fall to the floor with tears. No decent person would ever do that. If one truly, dearly loved another they would not make them cry with hateful, spite-filled words.

He did. He wondered what that made him.

A monster. A dirty, cruel bastard. A being unworthy of ever feeling happiness again. A malicious person who went around tearing out the hearts of others for lack of his own. Naruto clenched his teeth, his anger renewed, gripping the drink in his hand to the point where he thought the glass might break. He was overwhelmed with self-hate. He was lower than dirt, an unrelentingly severe, vile person. He was the biggest fool in existence for having thought that things would work out. Everything will be alright, he had convinced himself. Now, nothing was alright, because of him. _So, what are you going to do about it? Sit here and hate yourself with every nerve, every fiber, and every molecule of your being? Call yourself every nasty name in the book? Go ahead, it won't solve anything._

Naruto sighed loudly, wondering what was so wrong with wanting something to go his way, for once; to make someone else happy, as well as himself. He doubted that Sasuke had remembered how to smile before he came along, so perhaps their meeting was not as ill-fated as his thoughts insisted. Still, he failed to comprehend how Sasuke could do this to him; how he could reject his kiss like that, just so he could yell at Naruto and cry later. Naruto wished that he could have known what Sasuke had been thinking, and he wished that he could had more control over his own thoughts and actions. When he acted on impulse, everything he worked hard to achieve was ruined by making the person he loved sob relentlessly over him, who was undeserving of his tears. Yet, Naruto considered, if Sasuke succumbed so completely to his own emotions, maybe he returned Naruto's feelings. It was not as if his insults had hurt Sasuke's feelings, there could be no other explanation. Naruto scoffed, darkly amused.

At least there was now actual proof that Sasuke had feelings.

He regretted the thought instantly, incredulous that in his own mind, after everything that had just happened, he was still able to be cruel. Naruto became enraged with himself once more, removing his hand from his drink and running it through his hair roughly. It was no wonder that this happened; it was no wonder why he hated himself so much. Naruto could not stand himself. He was revolted by what he had become. How could he still be bitter toward Sasuke when he was so sure of his feelings for him?

_I love him._

It was just that; three simple words. There was nothing complicated or confusing about them. Yet so many things had hindered him and had turned everything into a complete mess. Naruto was sure that he had shattered what little trust Sasuke had left in people completely. Now, there was no chance. He should not have done that. He should apologize, drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness of which he was unworthy. Naruto was afraid that he meant the odious words which he had said to Sasuke. How else could he have ever said that to the person he loved? It would forever be one-sided from this point on, for it was certain that...

_He hates me_.

Sasuke's words were ringing through his head. _"I fucking hate you." _Those words were probably the last he would ever hear from him, if everything continued on in this manner. If he continued to be the malevolent bastard that he was.

_No, not if I get my disgraceful, worthless ass back over there and apologize. Not I you chant the words 'I'm sorry, Sasuke' to the point that I'm repeating them over and over again insanely. But...I don't think it would do any good. He would never forgive me. I made him cry. I don't want to see that...I don't want to witness what I've done. He'll just yell at me, tell me to go away. And I'd cry. I'd yell. As if I'm not already crying..._

With that thought, Naruto gripped his drink and brought it to his lips, quickly downing it all in a matter of seconds, without taking a single break for air. He slammed his glass down, the taste of beer burning in his throat. The action caught the bartender's attention and he raised his head, only to meet the dead, lifeless gaze of Naruto Uzumaki as tears spilled silently down his cheeks.

"One more, please."

* * *

Tenten inhaled deeply, welcoming the fresh air with open arms as she breathed. Today was the perfect day; there was not a cloud in sight and the bright blue sky stretched from one end of the horizon to the other. The sun shone brightly, warming her skin as she walked down the sidewalk, wrapping its arms around her. A light breeze caused her bangs sway in the wind gently. In the distance, past the tall, shining buildings, she could see the green and caramel mountains rising and falling. All of these things had compelled her to get her ass off the couch, put that ice cream back in the freezer, and take a relaxing stroll down the street instead. It had not turned out to be as beautiful as she had imagined, though, since the sound of people's incessant, incoherent chatter, the wailing of sirens, and the honking of horns filled the air and ruined the scenery. Then again, she stood at the heart of a densely populated city. She should have expected no more.

Her smile faltered as she became annoyed by the noises surrounding her. She decided that she would have to go to a nearby park if she wanted to enjoy the day the slightest bit. Tenten shrugged mentally, once more wearing a content expression, and changed directions, heading for the park, which was located in the center of the city. Aside from decorative greenery, it was the only place in downtown where one could come across an abundance of anything natural. The park was so large that one could easily become lost within it, and Tenten hoped that it could drown out the noise of the city as well.

In order to avoid a longer, alternate route, based on the direction from which she came, it was necessary for her to walk through a street that was inhabited by many bars and contained many drunken people. (Though if a problem would ever occur, she had her ninja skills prepared and a sharp, pointy object or three tucked away in some of her pockets.)

She turned a corner and began to walk down the street, looking through the windows on the facades of the buildings, watching the people inside intoxicate themselves. Some sat with others around them and drank casually, catching up with friends. Others drank for the hell of it, and a few sat alone, staring down at their beverages with distraught, torn expressions on their faces, clearly trying to drink away their sorrows. Tenten halted in front of one of the bars, staring at a person who was sitting alone. He was slouched over in an effortless, uncaring position, his head bowed down and his golden hair hiding his eyes. A pile of empty glasses lay next to him, evidence of his level of intoxication. He lifted his head slightly so he could down another beer, his hair moving back into place and revealing more of his face. Instantly, Tenten recognized him. Tanned skin, golden hair, three whisker-tattoos on each cheek. She was too far away to see the color of his eyes, but she already knew that they were a startling cerulean blue.

It was Naruto.

She stood outside the window, looking in for a few minutes. She wanted to rub her eyes and then look again, to make sure that she was not hallucinating. Although Naruto drank alcohol more than a healthy person should, he only did so when he was partying with his friends late at night. Never in the middle of a bright, sunny day, alone, with that forlorn expression. Tenten blinked her large, brown eyes, still incredulous. What could have possibly happened to make him think that getting drunk was the best solution, to wear that uncharacteristic, pained expression? She could only imagine. Undoubtedly, it had taken something horrible to tear a cheerful grin off his face and replace it with such a despondent look. Tenten stared, standing idly, wondering where the vivacious blond she knew went.

She realized that in the time which she had spent gaping at him, Naruto had downed two more drinks. Tenten decided that she would discover the source of his unhappiness and fix it. As a friend, she had an obligation, and a desire, to help him. _Screw going to the park_. Tenten charged over to the door and swung it open, the bell ringing as she did so. Naruto took no notice. She strode over to him and stood there for a few seconds, waiting for him to acknowledge her presence. He did not even turn around, and just asked for another drink in a hollow, languid voice. The bartender nodded, but his eyes were on Tenten, who was hovering near. He came back, placed the drink in front of Naruto, and glanced at the brunette once more before walking away.

Naruto reached out to grab his drink, his hand shaking. Before the tips of his fingers could make contact with the glass, Tenten snatched the drink away from him. She held it in one of her hands and scrutinized him, waiting for him to turn around to face her. Naruto did the exact opposite; he did not move. He stiffened, his entire body becoming tense. He looked down at his hands, which were still shaking. Tenten sighed loudly, bringing the glass to her lips, drinking all of the beer, and then slamming it down on the counter harshly, creating a loud noise. He still did not move an inch.

"Naruto," she called, in an attempt to obtain his attention fully. She did not take well to being ignored, especially when she was trying to help.

"Tenten," he responded after a few long seconds, still unmoving. She almost winced at how his voice was filled with melancholy.

A few minutes of silence passed between the two of them. Tenten wanted to ask him what was wrong, but she wanted him to start talking to her first. She felt awkward just standing there, hovering over him, so she took a seat in a stool beside him. Naruto did not glance at her; he just stared down at the counter, a nebulous look in his eyes that told Tenten that he was lost within his own mind. He did not seem drunk, though he had not spoken enough to allow her to hear any slurring of his words, and he had not moved enough to let her determine if his motor skills were impaired. Judging by the size of the pile of drinks, though, the hazy look in his eyes, and his flushed face, he should be drunk. After a few more minutes of remaining silent and rigid, Tenten realized that he had no intention to speak to her about whatever had occurred. Every second, he looked increasingly like he was going to pass out, which was most likely his aim.

"I hope you don't plan on driving in that drunken state," Tenten commented, smiling without humor. Naruto did not respond immediately and her face fell, her brow creasing with worry and her lips frowning.

"I plan on passin' out right 'ere. An' if I drive, I plan on crashin'," Naruto slurred, turning to look at her. He stared at her with his clouded, miserable eyes, looking entirely sincere. Tenten's eyes widened; she was absolutely positive that he was drunk now. Though, she had not counted on him being slightly suicidal. She hoped that statement had been the alcohol speaking, and not something that he would say once he was sober. Tenten placed her hand on his shoulder and looked at him with genuine concern in her eyes.

"Tell me what happened," she said. It would have been a command if her voice had not sounded so gentle and caring.

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds, seeming to contemplate whether he should tell her or not. It took some time; making a decision seemed to be very difficult in his condition. Finally, the blond sighed and locked eyes with Tenten, the sadness in them overwhelming her. "I screwed up real bad..." He mumbled, idly tracing the brim of one of the glasses with his finger. Tenten waited for more, but she assumed that was all that he would reveal. Tenten removed her hand from his shoulder, and then scrutinized his expression for a few seconds.

"How about I drive you home? If you'd just wait and stay put while I go to get my car-"

"Not goin' back there. Never 'gain," he interjected firmly, successfully silencing Tenten. He gripped one of the empty glasses tightly, looking like he was about to shatter it from squeezing so hard. Tenten glanced at his tense, trembling arm, and then she looked up at his face. She had no idea what was going on his head; she wished so badly that she could read his mind. Whatever he was thinking, it was enough to make tears well up in the corners of his eyes. Tenten swallowed, and then after a few moments of silence, she spoke.

"Why not?" She asked quietly.

Naruto sniffed, obviously trying to keep the tears from spilling. He was still gripping the empty glass tightly. "Jus' cause..." he uttered, remaining stubborn, his voice quivering precariously. "I need another drink..." He decided suddenly and called the bartender over. He came, but scurried away meekly once he was met by Tenten's ominous glare, daring him to come any closer with her eyes. Naruto glared at her, but his glower lacked in anger and ferocity. "Why'd ya do that?"

"Because getting wasted isn't the solution to anything, you lush," Tenten stated, pressing her lips together into a thin line and crossing her arms across her chest. "Tell me what happened." This time, she made sure it was clear that this was not a helpful suggestion or a request. It was a demand.

Naruto looked at her skeptically, as if he could not understand her. He looked down at his hands once more, which were still trembling, and then he glanced upward at her again. She noticed that he managed to keep the tears in his eyes at bay and that that they seemed to be receding. Slowly, a wry smile formed on Naruto's face. He looked mad. "Fine...I'll tell ya..." He said, spinning on his stool so that his entire body was facing her, almost falling off since he was so disoriented. Tenten stared at him warily, her concern overcoming her slight annoyance as he teetered from side to side, looking like he was going to pass out any second now. Still grinning, he looked her in the eye, and then spoke.

"Sasuke happened..." With that statement mumbled, barely intelligible, he passed out and fell forward onto a frantic Tenten's lap.

* * *

It all happened very quickly after that.

Tenten had to pry herself away from the dead, unconscious weight that was Naruto, in order to be capable of doing anything. She had done nothing but stare at him with frantic, awed eyes as he laid there, his body stretched across two stools. She had no idea whatsoever about what she should do, and decided that the best option was for her to race back to her apartment, get her car, and then drive like mad in order to return here as quickly as possible. She did not want Naruto to get mugged, raped, kidnapped, or murdered in the few minutes that she would be gone, so she knew that she had to make haste.

It occurred to Tenten that she could take his car, since it parked in front of the bar, but she decided against it. She hesitated to drive a manual car, especially if it did not belong to her and she was racing down the street frantically with an unconscious person in the passenger seat. Also, there was the entire issue of where she would take him. She had never had anyone pass out on her, except for Lee. (But she did not really count that) Bringing him to the hospital did not seem to be the right choice to her; that would be making it much more serious than it was. After all, people often passed out due to drinking, but then again, she did not know how to determine whether or not he had alcohol poisoning.

She settled for taking him to the home of the most astute and courteous person that she knew, Neji. Because he was so well-mannered, he would never object to Tenten dumping an unconscious person on his front steps, especially if it was his dear friend, Naruto. She considered that he would have some idea about what exactly had occurred to cause Naruto to be in such a state. The only clue he gave her was 'Sasuke', though she had the feeling that that would be enough.

Hastily, she rushed out of the bar, shouting at the bartender to watch him for the few minutes that she would be gone. She sprinted down the street toward her nearby apartment, pushing aside anyone in her path inconsiderately. Mere minutes later, she returned to the bar, and had parked her car in the vicinity. When she went inside, she was glad to see that Naruto remained safe in the time that she was gone. She walked up to the blond, who was still sprawled across the stools, and searched his pockets for his wallet. Tenten paid the bartender, with Naruto's money, for all the beers he had consumed, and then exited the bar.

Dragging Naruto to her awaiting Jeep was more difficult than she had anticipated. In no way was he light, and she had to settle for pulling him by the arms to her car. If she accidentally dislocated his shoulder in the process, he would just have to deal with that when he awoke. Once he was in her car and she had secured the seatbelt around his limp form, Tenten began the drive towards the core of the city, toward the Hyuuga Mansion. On the way there, she had called Neji and told him to meet her outside his home. (After all, she could not drag Naruto up a massive amount of steps on her own) Neji had asked what was wrong, but she revealed nothing, other than saying that it was important.

When she had arrived and showed him the unconscious form in her passenger seat, Neji did not attempt to conceal his shock. Working together, they had carried him up the steps and into the living room, and then proceeded to toss him onto the long, black, leather sofa. Tenten took no notice of the pink-haired girl sitting in a single chair with a blanket draped over her shoulders. Even though her vibrant hair was conspicuous, sitting there quietly, Sakura had faded into the black and white background.

Many minutes had passed, the most prominent noise being the ticking of the old analog clock centered over the large fireplace. In the background, Sakura could hear the low murmurs of Neji and Tenten as they discussed the current situation. If she concentrated hard, she could probably distinguish what they were saying, yet incompressible mumbles continued to reach her ears. A part of her was glad that she had been left unbothered to brood in her own dark corner. The pink-haired girl pulled a tissue from a nearby box of Kleenex, and used it to attempt to wipe the black marks off her face. She failed miserably and only succeeded in smudging the marks, which were remnants of a combination of her mascara and eyeliner, further.

Neji had brought her there shortly after her breakdown in the streets, and had escorted her into his home. She had sat down in a chair and curled up, hugging her legs, and continued to cry irrepressibly. The tears did not slow or halt until she had cried herself dry. Sakura had not bothered to make use of any of the tissues until now. She had been shaking from all the emotions she had let loose at once, so Neji had kindly draped a blanket over her shoulders. She felt like a child. Why must everyone always be watching her warily? Sakura did not need anyone; she could take care of herself. She wanted to call her chauffeur and make him come pick her up to take her home, yet her body refused to move from the spot in which she was sitting.

She looked up, seeming to just notice that there was a body lying limply across the sofa for the first time. An arm and a leg were dangling limply off the side of the couch, the long limbs brushing against the dark, wooden floor. Sakura came to the conclusion that this person must be sleeping, drunk, or dead. From her position, she could not see enough of the person to determine who they were. She peered over, scrutinizing the person. She could not believe that she had been so preoccupied that she had not noticed that Tenten and Neji had dumped someone on the couch. She took in his clothing, shorts and a flannel shirt. Sakura's emerald eyes widened when she saw a single lock of golden hair sticking up from behind the arm rest.

_Naruto._

Before she could process the situation entirely, her heart rate had already accelerated and she was struck by a strong pang of worry. She wondered what had happened to him; last time she had seen him, he had been gay and happy with that Uchiha. She sighed; she still could not shake that familiar feeling of resentment, even though she thought she had come to terms with Naruto and Sasuke's relationship. Even though, in her own way, she still held a grudge toward him, she could not help but feel concerned. After all, she had been his girlfriend once, and those caring feelings had not dissipated completely. Sakura bit her bottom lip, chewing on it nervously.

What could have possibly happened? She recalled what she had thought before; Naruto either had to be sleeping, drunk, or dead. She hoped it was not the latter. Though she may have been schizo before, she would never wish death upon anyone, no matter how much she loathed them. Sakura had never loathed Naruto and Sasuke, though; she hated to admit it to herself, but she had been somewhat envious of the relationship they shared. Naruto could be sleeping, but to her, that did not make that much sense. Most people did not go around falling asleep on the streets when they had a home. So, by process of elimination...

_He must be wasted._

Sakura's shoulders sagged and the corners of her lips turned down, forming into a frown. The Naruto she knew did not do such things to himself without reason; but the Naruto she knew was one from the past, before she had tried to break off all relations with him. She knew the Naruto before Sasuke, the Naruto that had loved her. A few months had passed since she had last spoken to him on friendly terms, and it was definitely possible that he had changed in that amount of time. Sakura noticed that she was to blame for everything unfortunate that had happened to her. Her happiness and misery were determined solely by herself. Nobody had control over her behavior, except herself. Sakura sighed and watched the blond with adhesive eyes, looking intently for any sign of movement. He never did drink simply because he liked the taste of alcohol. No, he drank to get drunk.

So there was only one question left unanswered, then. What was he trying to escape so desperately from? Her brow creased as she considered what could possibly be the answer to that. What could have possibly driven Naruto, the person who so foolishly never surrenders, over the edge? Just thinking that was what happened was unsettling. He had no family; his friends would always be there, even if his focus was not entirely on them...Sakura's eyes widened as she realized who that left. The person on which he was focused constantly.

_Sasuke Uchiha._

Something must have happened between the two of them. She hoped that she was wrong. To think, that for the past month, she had wished desperately for them to be separated. She had selfishly wanted Naruto to be miserable because they had separated, just like she was. Sakura should have realized then that that would never happen. He had moved on to better things the day that they had broken up. With her permanently out of the picture, there was room for Sasuke now. She sighed, feeling even more horrible than she could have thought possible. Her wish had come true.

The pink-haired girl stood up from her chair, the blanket that was draped around her shoulders sliding off her. Her legs shook some, weak, and her head was spinning like she was about to faint any second now, but aside from that, she was okay. She could stand and bear everything without toppling over, and that was sufficient. Sakura moved toward the sofa which Naruto was stretched across and gently wrapped her hands around Naruto's head, lifting it slightly. There, she sat down, and rested Naruto's head on her lap. She glanced down at him dismally, twirling a few strands of his soft, golden hair around her fingers.

She noticed how he reeked of alcohol. She noticed how his breathing was not quite calm or even. She noticed that despite the disturbed look on his face as he drifted somewhere in nothingness, he still looked exactly the same. Sakura had not looked directly at him in ages.

Sakura remembered how she loved him. She remembered how she hated him. _I have to remember that I got over him._

She regretted having destroyed any chance at friendship they had. He had not done much wrong to her, at least not intentionally. He just had started to unknowingly fall in love with someone else while he was still dating her. She was somewhat glad that she had broken up with him. It made her realize how malicious she was, and that she really needed to change. So maybe something good would come out of everything yet. After all this was over, maybe she could try being a little nicer to him. A little friendlier and open-minded. Maybe, just maybe, she could help make all of this be over and done with.

Sakura removed her hands from Naruto's hair, somewhat reluctantly, and lifted his head carefully away from her lap. She stood up and laid his head back down against the arm rest of the sofa, and then walked away, disappearing down one of the many endless halls in the Hyuuga Mansion. The pink-haired girl returned shortly, carrying some ice water in a bowl and a small towel. She walked over to where Naruto was lying, placed the bowl down on a nearby glass table, soaked the towel in the freezing water, and attempted to bring Naruto back to consciousness

After a few minutes of pouring freezing water on his face, Sakura finally saw his fingers twitch some. His eyes were shut tightly as he struggled to find his way out of the darkness. He opened his eyes, squinting and blinking several times, unsure of his location. His face was numb; he could feel freezing water trickling down his neck and beneath his shirt, and he began to shiver. Naruto glanced around briefly, not quite registering what was occurring, still somewhat lost in his own mind. His dull cerulean eyes scanned the room, stopping when they saw Sakura hovering nearby, holding a wet towel and smiling weakly. She looked like she was about to shatter, appearing to be as fragile as a porcelain doll.

"Hello, Naruto," she greeted quietly, her voice wavering. She had not spoken in a while. She had not done anything but cry and scream.

"Sakura...where..?" He asked, his voice sounding rough and husky. Naruto glanced around once more, and then laid his head back down on the sofa, and stared up at the ceiling.

"We're at Neji's house," Sakura answered, looking at him with a strange expression on her face. "Naruto...did you intentionally get drunk and pass out?"

No answer came from him, and it remained silent for a few minutes. His eyes were closed, and Sakura could not tell if he was resting, sleeping, or dead. She took a step toward him, concerned, but halted as soon as she heard his voice, sadly and musically chanting words in a low whisper.

"_I'm gonna get so, so drunk that I pass out, forget your face, by the time I wake up_," Naruto sang quietly. Sakura noticed that Tenten and Neji had ceased talking in the kitchen, and a heavy silence was now lingering in the air.

The pink-haired girl did not say anything for a minute, and simply stood there, listening. Neither Neji, Tenten, nor Naruto made another sound. For some reason unbeknown to her, she suddenly felt nervous and awkward. "So..." she started, hoping that she caught Naruto's attention. "It didn't work, did it..?" She asked, somewhat hesitantly.

"No," he murmured quietly, so quietly that it was almost inaudible and she had to strain to hear what he was saying.

"Did you have a feud with Satari-chan?" Sakura asked, smiling without humor. She could not believe she had even dared to ask that question. She was trying to make him feel better, not worse. She was trying to help, and she decided that so far she was not doing a very good job. He did not need to be reminded of whatever had happened.

"...I guess you could say that," Naruto mumbled, looking forlorn. He glanced up at the pink-haired girl, locking eyes with her for a brief instant. He looked away quickly, accepting that she knew. There was never a Satari-chan, it was obvious. They all knew. "More than a feud, though."

Sakura merely nodded and attempted to sustain her fake smile as it wavered precariously, threatening to break. Naruto simply rested his head back down against the arm rest, closing his eyes, looking as if he felt nauseous. Rapidly approaching footsteps could be heard as Neji and Tenten darted out of the kitchen, rushing over to Naruto's side. They began to speak to him, asking if he was alright, but he did not respond. He just looked at them skeptically, forcing himself to sit up. After that, he covered his mouth with one hand, looking sick, and ran towards the nearest bathroom, crashing into several objects along the way, disoriented. Neji and Tenten followed him immediately, as if they were his shadow.

Sakura remained in the living room, though. She stumbled backward, falling back into the chair she was sitting in earlier, drowning out all the noises that had come rushing back. The gleeful chirping of birds outside. The concerned voices of Tenten and Neji. The wretched vomiting of Naruto. Everything, gone. Nothing could reach her ears. Nothing could reach her where she was at that moment. Sakura sat, alone, a maudlin mess once more, tears welling in her emerald eyes.

* * *

(A/n:) Was Itachi evil enough? Cause..I dunno...sigh...I can't make him be all ARGH!-I-will-eat-chu-and-drink-your-blood-mmm-tastey like he is in the Anime/Manga. Damn...he's kind of hard to write...Whenever I think Itachi, I associate him with nail polish, fruit loops, sharks, weasels, and well, overall gayness. Soo...he kind of came out snarky and aloof rather than mass-murdering evil. (sigh) I tried to make him radiate evilness and killing intent...I really did... (curls up in a ball and cries)

I tried to make this chapter a little happier, you know, brighten up things a lil' bit. Only for like two to four paragraphs, in the Tenten scenes. To think all this bad shit is happening on a bright, sunny day. ...(looks around) (does a crazy rain dance directed towards Pein) Um, er, excuse me, I'm not entirely sane.

Kudos to whoever knows what song Naruto is singing. That song is very sad and very emo at the end.

As for Ino and Gaara, I took out the scene they were in. It would've been too disgusting long if not. Next chapter, they'll be back. Am I the only one who thought the last scene was kind of cute in a wistful it-will-never-EVER-happen kind of way? Yeah, probably.


	17. Alcohol, Ice Cream, and Novellas

Sorry, I took soo long, again. Yeah...well...yeaahhh. I suck. You can throw rocks at me, I swear, it's becoming an international sport. I'll hold still, I promise. Umm, yeah. Thanks to the lovely Vio-chan for being the 700th reviewer, and actually telling me that! Woo! I didn't have to count! xD But still, 700 hundred reviews! I ISH UNWORTHY! (bows to reviewers) I feel so loved! (sniff) This chapter is a little more humorous than the last two, in my opinion, but funny in an entirely sad, pathetic way. Seriously.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _If I owned Naruto, there would be sex.

_Warnings_: More crying, more angstness, more feuding, more alcohol (with a little dangerous combination of pills to the side), some drugs, more SHIT. Oh yeah, and PatheticLump!Naruto, Bitch!Naruto, and CrossedOverToTheLightSide!Sakura. Blahhh.

_Review or I will go jump of a cliff. If you say some shit about my fic, fuck you, bitch. Thank you and enjoy._

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**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: ALCOHOL, ICE CREAM, AND NOVELLAS**

The utter silence had grown past awkward and uncomfortable, and was now leaning more towards eerie. She knew that it was foolish of her to expect him to talk, but that did not prevent from wanting him to say something. After all, none of them really had any idea of what had happened, other than who it had to do with. Sakura suspected that Neji, being as perceptive as he was, might have some insight on it, but his thin lips remained pressed together and his creamy eyes remained unrevealing.

Tenten came out of the kitchen, slipping on her coat as she walked into the living room. The inside of the Hyuuga Mansion was dimly lit by the orange light of the setting sun, haunting shadows cast throughout the empty and silent building. She stopped as her large, brown eyes glazed over the two people sitting in the living room, both remaining mute. Tenten carefully walked up to the pink-haired girl sitting solemnly on the love seat, alone. Sakura slowly looked up at the other girl.

"I've got to go now. I have things to do, you know?" Tenten said, her skin dyed orange by the incandescent sunlight. Sakura merely glanced back down and nodded, directing her gaze towards her bare feet. Tenten smiled half-heartedly and sighed heavily, brushing her bangs away from her face. "I'll be back tomorrow, though. First thing in the morning. Are you staying the night?" She inquired, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, Neji wants me to," Sakura mumbled, her voice seeming much too loud to her own ears. After that, she fell back into silence, staring at the person sitting on the couch across from her.

"Alright, don't you two do anything naughty," Tenten said, trying to smile once more. It did not come out right, though. Her smile faltered and seemed misplaced on her face. She did not give up and turned away from Sakura, flashing her fake smile at Naruto. He said nothing; he did not even look at her. His eyes remained glued to the floor. "What about you?" Tenten asked as her smile began to tremble precariously, as if it was about to shatter. "Staying the night?"

Naruto did not respond to her at all; it was difficult to tell if there was anything alive inside of the person sitting there idly. He simply sat there, sitting near the edge of the sofa, his head slouched over and his elbows resting on his knees, his arms dangling uselessly. He looked pathetic, limp, and absolutely lifeless. He did not bother to brush his blond hair away from his eyes, nor did he bother to give Tenten a sign that he was actually aware that she was speaking to him. He sat silently, his cerulean eyes stormy and nebulous beneath his golden hair, glowing orange with the receding sun. Ever since she had brought him here a few hours prior, he had remained the same, unchanging in his bleak expression. He had not spoken a word since the few he had spoken after he had awakened. The three of them were concerned for him, and wanted to know what was wrong, but they did not want to make everything worse than it already was by prying; by making him vocalize what happened to make him turn from an animate person and into an inert, apathetic heap. Tenten knew that he was thinking it, though. Every second, he was most likely reliving whatever had happened.

She decided to take his silence as a 'yes' to her question. She walked over to Naruto and gave him a hug, but he still remained stiff in her arms, as if she was not even there. Tenten knew that he was the one that was not there, though. She let go and stared at him for a brief second with concern, and then said goodbye once more, her voice echoing through the empty home. Tenten opened the door and a gust of cool air rushed in, a shiver crawling through Sakura's skin. Tenten shut the door behind her and disappeared, letting the eerie silence to take over once more. After a few more minutes of dreadful quiet, Neji appeared from out of the kitchen, telling Sakura that he was going to his room to make a phone call.

He climbed the massive main stairs of the Hyuuga mansion and then turned a corner, disappearing down one of the many halls, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone. Actually, he left solely Sakura alone, since Naruto might as well be considered gone. The pink-haired girl frowned down at her feet, the loud ticking of the analog clock hurting her ears. She winced and tried to ignore it, and went back to focusing on the blond sitting across from her. Sakura waited, and ten minutes had gone by. He still had not said a word. She wanted him to start talking on his own; he had not made a single noise since his body had rid itself of all the toxins he had consumed.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but then she stopped herself. What could she possibly say? She could not comfort him, she could not understand him, and she did not even know him. She felt completely useless. She had to remind herself that she was not there to pity herself. She wondered why she was still there; maybe Neji wanted her to stay because she looked just as horrible as Naruto did on the outside. The pink-haired girl realized that her mouth was still hanging open and she softly clamped her jaw shut. She racked her brain for anything she could possibly say, and came up with nothing. Sakura sighed and returned to gazing at Naruto with a forlorn expression.

"Sasuke…" The soft spoken words snapped Sakura out of her daze and she opened her eyes, finding darkness. It appeared that the sun had set. There was the grayish glow of twilight, though, and she could still see Naruto across from her, mumbling something incoherently to himself. She did not know how much time had passed. Sakura glanced at the clock and she learned that half an hour had gone by. Neji still seemed to be upstairs, making that phone call. She wondered briefly who he could possibly be calling, and then turned her attention to Naruto.

He was no longer sitting upright, and appeared to have collapsed back into the couch. He was stretched across it, two of his long limbs hanging off the couch. He had returned to the same position he was in when he had first arrived here, a few hours ago. Again, the name 'Sasuke' escaped gently from his lips. The way he had said it was indescribable. It tore away mercilessly at Sakura's heart. She bit her bottom lip and refrained from crying, taking in a deep, shaky breath.

"Naruto?" She asked hesitantly, her voice sounding small and pathetic. Naruto became silent, and she did not receive a response. She waited, but he never returned to murmuring quietly. "I…I heard what you said." Still no response. She swallowed audibly, searching for words. "What happened?" Sakura dared to ask. "Please tell me…I know that I've been horrible to you lately, but….you're…I...don't know. Did…did Sasuke do something to hurt you, Naruto?" Sakura looked down at her hands and fiddled with them idly, shaking as she did so. She was incredulous that she had actually said that. She almost squeezed her eyes shut in apprehension to what Naruto would say, or do, in response.

Naruto lifted his head and looked at her, only able to see the outline of her silhouette in the dim lighting. Her nervousness was palpable, though. He laid his head back down on the arm rest of the sofa and stared up at the ceiling for a few moments, saying nothing. He could almost smile at what Sakura had said. He let out a short bark of cruel laughter, surprising the girl. She blinked at him, shocked. "Yeah, Sasuke hurt me, alright….but I got even. I hurt him back, just as bad, if not worse…" Naruto said in a low, dangerous voice. Sakura almost flinched at the anger laced within the words.

"You're mad," she stated simply in a hushed voice.

"Angrier than I've ever been. Not at you…not at Sasuke. Never at him…" he trailed off, his unfinished sentence lingering in the air.

"What did you do, Naruto?" Sakura asked, her eyebrows knitting. She knew exactly who he was angry with; it was himself. He had probably done foolish, irrational things that he regretted, ruining everything in the process. Just because he had to be selfish just once, or twice….or more. He was a maudlin mess and had let his feelings get the best of him. Sakura sighed inwardly, realizing that she projecting her own feelings onto him. She had no idea of what had happened between Naruto and Sasuke; she could not assume any of those things. Still, it surprised her that it was Naruto that had done something. He was always so kind and caring to those that he loved, and she was certain that he loved Sasuke. Not only that, he was in love with him. She found it strange how a certain phrasing of the same words could make such a significant difference in meaning.

"Just…fuck, Sakura. I'm such a bastard. I knew it was hard for him…it was difficult for me, too. No one has any idea how long I've…" Naruto sighed heavily, digging his hands roughly into his hair. His head, his chest, every part of him ached. "I fucked with him…Screwed with him real bad. I was a merciless, heartless, monster…" His voice started to wobble ominously. He clenched his jaw and his fists as he began to tremble. The blond covered his face with his hands, feeling tears sting his eyes. He did not say any more for a long while and remained silent and still. Sakura froze, her entire body tensing. She stayed like that throughout the entire pause, as if she was afraid that Naruto would break down if she moved the slightest bit.

A muffled, soft sob came from the direction of Naruto and Sakura stiffened even further, digging her nails into the leather of Neji's couch. She had never heard Naruto weep before; he had always seemed so strong to her. He had not cried when they had broken up, not that she knew of, at least. She remained silent, listened to the heart-wrenching sobs, feeling much like crying herself.

"I made him cry," Naruto whispered softly, staring down at the floor, looking utterly defeated and pathetic. Sakura's eyes widened briefly, startled. She would have never thought it possible. She frowned, creases forming on her forehead. She was unsure of what do to. She had no idea what to say, either. A part of her wanted to stand up and wrap her arms around his trembling form, but she was uncertain if that was the right thing to do. The pink-haired girl glanced down at her hands and fidgeted with them, hesitant. She could hear Naruto's barely audible sobs coming from the other side of the room.

"But I thought…you guys were…" She mumbled, deciding not to finish her sentence.

"Well, we both thought wrong," Naruto said quietly, the despondence in his tone palpable. He dragged his arm up and wiped his eyes, and then let it collapse limply at his side. There was a long pause after that, neither willing to continue. The blond sighed loudly, rolled his head back, and stared up at the high ceiling once more. "It doesn't even make any sense…" He began to mumble, more to himself than to Sakura. "I didn't do anything wrong in the beginning….what did I do? I just tried to show him…" He trailed off again, and Sakura swallowed nervously. He did not even seem to be aware of where he was anymore.

"I love him," Naruto said suddenly, breaking the silence. Sakura was incredulous that it was possible to incorporate so much feeling into so little words. Certainty, fervor, vehemence, remorse, mirth, sorrow, and wistfulness were all contained in one simplistic sentence. He sighed heavily and then covered his face with one of his hands. The pink-haired girl smiled weakly, wishing that she could see his expression in the darkness.

"You made him cry," Sakura repeated gently. She did not need light to know that Naruto had just winced. She had not meant it that way, though. "I don't know him very well-correction, at all, but it's obvious that Sasuke Uchiha does not simply cry for anyone, Naruto. If there was nothing there…if there was nothing left to save…he wouldn't have been so affected. I don't know what you did to make things turn out like this, but I know that you have to fix it. You can't possibly let it just die like this. You two...you love each other," Sakura stated, swallowing hard. Finally, she had said it. She continued, her voice somewhat stronger and less precarious than it was before. "You can't lose it all over a fight…feelings don't just dissipate like that."

Again, the two of them fell into silence. Sakura assumed that Naruto was thinking, if he had even heard what she had said. She could envision the empty and lost expression on his face. She heard some shifting from the other side of the room. "He hates me," Naruto said, his voice falling abysmally flat. "He told me so."

The tone of his voice shot down and destroyed everything she had said earlier. He was being irrational; her words might as well mean nothing to him. Sakura feared that soon her lips would forever be locked in a constant frown if this continued on. She searched for something to say in response to that, and just at that moment the echo of footsteps was heard. Sakura turned and glanced behind her to see Neji descending the stairs; Naruto collapsed back down onto the couch and faced the opposite direction, brooding pensively.

When Neji saw Sakura he smiled, just barely, despite himself. "Why is it so dark in here?" Just as those words escaped his lips, high beam headlights shone through the large windows of the Hyuuga Mansion and illuminated the room. Sakura looked out the window and tried to distinguish what kind of car was parking in front of the massive steps. She scrutinized it and realized that it was Gaara's car. The doors opened and two people stepped out, briskly walking up the stairs. Before the pink-haired girl could question Neji, the musical sound of the doorbell echoed through the home.

Neji started to walk towards the door, but stopped when he passed by Naruto's tense form. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but they are your friends and are concerned for you. They want to see you, even if you'd rather be left alone. I promise that they'll be out quick." He waited for a response, but Naruto did not do nor say anything. There was a sharp rapping at the door and Neji continued on and opened it, revealing Ino and Gaara.

Chilly air rushed into the house as they entered, cooling it. Gaara turned on the lights and everything in the room was visible now, the sudden change in lighting hurting Sakura's eyes. She did not cover them, though; she just stared at Naruto's back intently. She completely ignored Ino, who was now hurrying towards Naruto worriedly, her heels clicking as she walked.

"Naruto! What happened? Are you alright?" Ino asked, not hiding her concern at all. Sakura winced, the blonde's voice much too loud for the solemn atmosphere. Naruto did not reply and continued to stare at the leather he was facing bleakly. Ino's periwinkle eye's widened and she placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder, frowning when he did not respond to her touch. "Naruto-kun?" She asked, her voice dropping considerably in volume.

Gaara and Neji appeared behind the tall blonde girl, both of their faces apathetic. Sakura thought that she had seen Gaara flinch slightly when he saw his friend's limp form lying on the couch. "Naruto," the redhead said simply, letting him know that he was there. Everyone in the room waited, and still nothing. Ino shook his shoulder lightly and Gaara merely shook his head. "Ino, just leave him be. He insists on being non-responsive."

Ino turned to look at him, her eyebrows knitting. "But Gaara, it's like he's dead or something! I can't just give up on him." She turned back around toward Naruto, and kneeled down beside the sofa. She touched his golden hair gently and ran it through her fingers. "We just want you to know that we're here for you, alright?" Ino whispered. She then turned and looked up at the two other males.

"Yeah, me too," Gaara agreed. He turned to look at Neji, who nodded his head.

"Please tell us what happened, so we can help," Ino practically begged, trying to pry something out of him. Neji opened his mouth to speak, but he was interjected abruptly by Sakura.

Everyone had forgotten that she was present. As soon as Ino and Gaara had entered the room, it was if she had made herself invisible. Sakura had no desire to speak to Ino; she had not even wanted to acknowledge her existence. She was still angry with her over their dispute. Just because Naruto had appeared wasted and heartbroken on Neji's doorstep that did not mean that they were suddenly friends again. Even if, technically, she was now on Ino's side, and had realized the error of her ways. Even though they should all work together to try to help Naruto; even though she had a change of heart, in a way, and was back on speaking terms with Naruto, that did not change anything between her and Ino, at least in her opinion. The harmful words had been said, and she was known to hold grudges. Sakura hated that she was so irrational, and on some level she knew she wanted to be friends with Ino again, but she would not allow it. Sakura also hated that Ino was being so annoying and pressuring; why could she not leave Naruto alone?

"Why don't you just give up? He doesn't want to talk. Leave him alone, Ino. You don't even have the slightest idea about what had happened and he is certainly not going to reveal it to you anytime soon," Sakura snarled, standing up from her seat and crossing her arms. Ino let her hand fall from Naruto's shoulder, stood up silently, and slowly turned to face the pink-haired girl, her expression hard and her eye's cold. The two girls stared at each other for a few ominous seconds, their lips pressed together in thin lines.

Gaara and Neji exchanged glances briefly, both knowing what was coming next. Again, they would be caught in the middle and would have to try to control the situation. They would not have to control it if they could prevent their friends' catfight from starting, though. "Sakura, you can't just speak for Naruto like that-" Gaara started, but his words went in one ear and out the other. Both of the girls ignored him. His words had no value to them.

Ino smirked maliciously, as if she found the quarrel entertaining. Her eyes betrayed her smirk, though, and remained cold. "Well," she started, scoffing lightly, "look who suddenly returned from the dark side. You should've stayed there, Sakura. Unlike you, just sitting there with your nose up in the air, I'm trying to help. Not to mention that lately you've just been contributing to his problems." Ino stared at her intensely when she was finished speaking.

"So I made some mistakes in my behavior towards Naruto. People can change, Ino, which means you can change and stop being so annoying. Stop bothering him, you obnoxious whore," Sakura scowled maliciously, her more vicious side emerging. She knew that they certainly should not be yelling at each other at a time like this. She knew that they should put their petty issues with each other aside and try to help Naruto. Even though she was entirely aware of that, it still did not keep her from spewing out degrading insults at her former friend.

"Sakura, shut the fuck up. You're so unbelievably _fake_," Ino spat, looking at her with abhorrence. "You're telling me to leave him alone? You should see yourself. You're pestering, bitchy, and your fat ass is almost as large as your colossal forehead." Ino placed her hands firmly on her hips and frowned, looking like she was about the bare her teeth at the other girl any moment now. Their argument was no longer about who was helping Naruto and who was not; it had been reduced to a catfight. They were not making valid points to why the other was so horrible; they were just offending each other with callowness, aiming to be deleterious.

"At least I eat, you anorexic slut," Sakura growled, her cheeks turning slightly red at Ino's comment. She crossed her arms across her chest and gripped them tightly, unable to think of anything else to say. She simply decided on glowering at Ino, gathering all the spite she felt towards her into her boring stare.

"I may be a slut, but at least I can get guys. You're a bitch, Sakura-_chan_," Ino taunted her mercilessly. Gaara and Neji were still looking at each other, speaking a language of silence, trying to decide whether or not they could jump in. Even if they did, they would most likely be disregarded entirely. "Remember back in our lovely high school days? Lee would've willingly been your slave and you treated him like dirt just because you didn't like the way he looked. I've lost count of how many times you've broken his heart." Sakura frowned, she hated to be reminded of her old, shallow self. Ino was really taking a low blow at her.

Gaara quickly and inconspicuously glanced at Sakura, noting the look on her face. He grabbed Ino by the arm and pulled her towards him, so that she was facing him now. The blonde girl glared at him and quickly yanked herself out of his grip. "Ino, stop doing this. Hurting each other isn't going to make anything better. Have you forgotten that Naruto is sitting right there? Do you-" the red head stopped speaking when Ino turned away from him and continued to yell at Sakura.

"Do you remember how you would turn down Naruto everyday when he asked you out, and when you finally did, it was only because he had turned into a piece of eye candy? Huh, Sakura-chan?" Ino asked, widening her sparkling periwinkle eyes, feigning innocence. They glittered with something devious, though.

Sakura managed to maintain eye contact with her, but she was struggling. She felt like her throat was closing, and she knew if this continued she was going to end up sobbing soon. She would not be crying from being hurt by Ino's insults, though. It was just everything. They were not making anything better. She thought it was bad enough as it was, only to find out that she could assist in making everything even worse. "Shut up, Ino. I don't need to hear this. Why don't you just go? Have fun getting random, middle-aged men, you whore. Have fun getting STDs."

"Stop," Gaara said firmly from the sidelines, becoming noticeably angry. "Why is fighting the only thing we can do when we get together?"

"Ino, I think it would be better if you left. Naruto's fine," Neji said, speaking for the first time since the dispute had begun. Ino looked at him, as if just noticing him for the first time, furiously blinking her eyes, incredulous. Sakura looked at him, trying to hide her small feeling of satisfaction.

"Why do I have to go? Sakura's the problematic, schizophrenic one here," Ino said dryly, crossing her arms tightly across her chest, glaring at everyone in the room, save the silent form that was lying across the couch almost lifelessly.

"Stop being immature, Ino." That was the only thing that Neji said. He looked at her reprehensibly, turning his back to the pink-haired girl standing awkwardly in the background behind him.

Ino made a nasty face at him, not knowing what to say in response. She turned to face Sakura again, ready to restart the fight. Her expression said it all. 'This is not over yet.' The pink-haired girl met her with an equally wicked look, and they went back to disregarding the other people who were present. Neji sighed in exasperation and Gaara clenched his fists, frowning slightly. Abruptly, he started to walk towards the main entrance of the Hyuuga Mansion and swung open the colossal doors.

Everyone turned to look at him, all with inquiring expressions. "I can't take all of this shit anymore. I've had enough of this constant quarreling. It's pointless," Gaara said, looking at them all with a deadpan face. He gave Neji a curt nod, then walked out the door, and disappeared into the night, heading toward his car.

Ino glanced at the door, realizing that he was her ride. With one last lingering glare directed toward Sakura, she left, opening the door and quickly walking down the steps, being careful not to trip on her own feet. Neji and Sakura simply stood there and looked at each other, their eyes locked. Cold, crisp air filled the room, and the pink-haired girl began to shiver. Neji did not make any move to close the door, though. He held her gaze and looked nowhere else, and Sakura felt obligated to maintain eye contact. They still remained stiff as they heard Gaara start up his car and begin to drive away. It was not until the sound of Gaara's car ventured out of earshot did Neji shut the door. Once he had closed and locked it, he turned back around to face Sakura. She shifted uncomfortably under his permeating gaze, some unidentified emotion evident in his creamy eyes. Neji looked away, sighed, and walked to where Naruto was laying. He reached out, placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder, and gripped it loosely.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Even though it was barely audible, his words still echoed throughout the mansion. He let his hand slip from Naruto's shoulder and then walked away. He walked past Sakura, not even seeming to note her presence. Neji strode up to a wall and turned the lights off in the living room, and then disappeared up the main stairs, leaving Sakura and Naruto in the darkness.

* * *

Everyone deals with a broken heart differently. Some attempt to pick up the pieces and mend them together, but never quite get there. Other's hearts have been shattered since the beginning, becoming more damaged through the course of life. A few lucky move on with their own lives, but perhaps they will never quite be the same. Maybe whenever a thought of that person crosses their mind, they will wince in remembrance of what had happened. There are some, though, that do absolutely nothing about it. They do not try to heal, yet they do not entirely lose themselves in a sentimental mess. Those people may simply sit idly and stare off into nothingness, making themselves relive the heartbreak continually, maintaining the same blank expression all throughout it. That was Naruto's case.

He had seemed to have taken a permanent residence on Neji's couch, and had spent the last three days lying across it and staring up at the ceiling with nebulous eyes and an expressionless face. Neji knew that allowing his friend to stay at his home rather than making him leave and do something was not the most rational thing to do, but it was evident that Naruto would spend his days lying across his own couch if he was not at his friend's house. Neji decided that it was better if he was there to watch over him and that Naruto could use an ally, even though most of the time the blond hardly uttered a word. Neji was an expert at decoding people, and he knew that Naruto was in no condition to be out on his own. He just hoped that he would get better quickly, because losing Sasuke was certainly not the end of the world. He hoped that Naruto realized that he still had a life to live, and that his friends were standing right behind him, even if they were not on the same page with each other. By watching Naruto, he could get some idea of the intensity of his feelings for Sasuke, but he could at least try somewhat harder to get himself together. One could not live in the past, after all. Naruto was acting immature with his constant brooding, but that did not mean Neji was any less concerned.

He was not the only one, of course. Ino and Gaara were worried, though they had not returned to check up on him since their last visit on Friday. Ino most likely did not want to confront Sakura, for they were still involved in their childish quarrel. As for Gaara, Neji did not have much of an idea, actually. He supposed that he did not come because he was apprehensive that everyone would start fighting again, and he did not want to be a part of it. Gaara did not particularly like to go around picking fights with his best friends. Sakura had returned to her own home after she had spent the night at Neji's, but she came back for at least an hour every day since the incident. She avoided speaking all that much to Neji, knowing that he felt somewhat irritated at her. He remained his typical polite self, but Sakura still chose to spend almost all of her time sitting on the seat across from the couch which Naruto had not moved from. Neji did not tell her to go nor encourage her to stay, but he was wondering what her exact motives were. She did not speak to Naruto; he assumed it was because he would not say much back. Sakura just looked at him the entire time. Did she want to rekindle their friendship? Maybe she had returned to the light side, as Ino had said, and wanted to help. What other explanation was there?

Neji was starting to question Naruto's sanity. It was Monday now, and seeing that Naruto had yet to move far from the couch, it seemed that the blond decided that he would not attend any of his classes today. He had already missed work over the weekend, and if he ever did return, he would most likely find out that he was fired. Although it did not seem as if Naruto would care. Naruto had always cared; he cared so much that he took things to the extreme and overreacted. It was unheard for Naruto to ever become apathetic, until now. When Neji had returned from his classes today, he found that Naruto was still sitting on his couch, but he had somehow acquired several bottles of alcohol, which he was attempting to down some aspirin with. Neji had also found that his supply of ice cream had suddenly become dangerously low, when he could have sworn that there were several cartons in the freezer just that morning.

Currently, Naruto was still playing the role of a wasted couch potato. In the short time that Neji had disappeared to take a quick shower, Naruto had somehow acquired more alcohol and more painkillers, even though Neji had taken them away a few minutes before. Neji frowned and walked up to Naruto, prying the bottle of whisky he was chugging out of his grip.

"Naruto, I thought we both agreed that you getting drunk isn't going to solve anything," Neji said pointedly, placing the bottle of liquor on the glass coffee table in the center of the living room.

Naruto just glanced at him briefly, and then continued to ignore him. He grabbed a half-empty beer that had been resting on the floor and started to drink it. Neji sighed with irritation and also took that away from him. He did not want to yell at Naruto, but he certainly would if it came to that. He had barely been alright with the blond practically living on his couch. What made him think that consuming all the liquor in the Hyuuga Mansion (and not to mention ice cream) was acceptable?

Naruto grabbed two aspirin in his hands and popped them into his mouth, swallowing them with a giant swig of another random bottle of alcohol. Neji glared and also took that away, then proceeded to pick up every bottle that surrounded Naruto. He then picked up the bottle of aspirin, and glanced at Naruto. "These pills don't rid of the kind of pain you have, Naruto. Even if they did, it's only temporary. It never actually goes away, they just prevent the impulse from reaching your brain," Neji stated, scrutinizing him with his omniscient eyes. "Do you realize how dangerous that is? Are you trying to kill yourself, Naruto?" He asked calmly, his voice even and level.

Naruto looked up at him with red eyes and an apathetic expression. His golden hair was messier than usual, sticking up haphazardly in every direction. He reeked of alcohol, and the smell would never quite go away. He had not showered since he had arrived there, and he just kept on drinking. His skin looked sallow and there was no color in his cheeks. There were bags under his eyes, clearly evidence of insomnia. Stubble was evident on his face now, since he had refrained from shaving. Naruto's clothes were wrinkled and everything about him was careless. It was obvious that he was not trying at all. Neji had to wonder where all of his reason had gone.

"No," Naruto mumbled, his words barely comprehensible. He glanced down, away from Neji's gaze. "I just….I don't know. I wish I could just turn off all of my thoughts, tell my brain to shut up. It doesn't work though…I guess, I don't know...I guess I've given up."

Neji stared at him for a second, almost looking incredulous. "I hope that you're speaking under the influence of alcohol. You would have never said that. You're so determined it's foolish. If that wasn't the alcohol speaking, then I have a question for you…" he trailed off, waiting for Naruto to make eye contact with him. "Who are you?"

"I'm a pathetic lump who was formerly known as Naruto Uzumaki," he murmured, then sighed heavily, breaking eye contact with Neji.

"Do me a favor and stop drinking, and you'll soon find that you are no longer pathetic. You know excessive drinking won't do anything for you other than give you cirrhosis. It won't make you forget. Stop trying to runaway, Naruto," Neji advised firmly, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. Naruto looked up at him with dull blue eyes and was met with a slight smile. The blond sighed after a few long seconds and then nodded.

"Okay," He said simply, exhaling. "I have to remember…I never back down from anything." He spoke quietly, his words becoming a mere whisper.

Neji smiled fully this time and tightened his grip on his friend's shoulder. "Good, keep on thinking that." He sighed inwardly with satisfaction, glad that Naruto had at least decided to stop feeding himself depressants. He just hoped that it would not take him another three days to decide it was about time he got his ass off Neji's couch for good. He was worried about him, they all were. At that moment, Neji's cell phone began to ring and he let his hand slip from Naruto's shoulder, giving him one last reassuring, small smile before he walked away. The blond did not see it though; he had turned to lie on his side and was now facing the inside of the sofa.

Neji walked into the kitchen and pulled out his phone, halting its incessant ringing and bringing it to his ear. He glanced at the screen briefly to see who was calling him. "Sakura," he greeted, acknowledging her. It was silent for several seconds as Sakura said something on the other side of the line. He then turned around to face the room he had exited, seeing some golden hair and a hint of blue peeking over the edge of the black sofa. When Neji saw Naruto, the blond quickly and quietly disappeared behind the couch once more.

In response to Naruto's actions, the corners of Neji's lips quirked up in a slight smile. He was glad to be seeing something out of him other than the qualities of corpse. Sakura said something again, snapping him out of his slight daze. He stared at the sofa for a second, and then proceeded to turn around and walk into the immensely large kitchen. "He's better, I suppose," Neji said into his phone.

There was a high-pitched noise that resembled a squeal on the other side of the line. Neji almost winced away from his phone, but simply sighed and nodded instead. It was silent for a few more seconds as Sakura spoke to him. "He ate all of my ice cream," he finally said, his creamy eyes flicking towards his now empty freezer.

There was a pause, it seemed as if Sakura did not know whether to laugh or question Naruto's sanity. She settled for some combination of both. Neji chirped a curt laugh, and then spoke. "You don't want to know what he was doing when I got home from class."

There was about a half second of silence before the frantic yelling began. Even from where Naruto was lying, he could hear the incoherent sounds of Sakura freaking out. "Calm down," Neji urged, "you always assume the worst. He was just drinking." As if that was all that well, but at least it was better than what Sakura had thought.

"Yes," Neji said, walking away from his spot in the kitchen and back into the living room. He was more than relieved to see that Naruto was actually trying to do something other than sulk. The blond had the remote in his hand and was turning on the large plasma-screen TV hanging over the fireplace. "He's watching TV now."

"If you must know, it's Telemundo or something," Neji said, smirking slightly. He highly doubted Naruto could understand what they were saying, since he had given up on Spanish after taking the class for a mere week in high school. Neji walked to the center of the living room and sat down in the matching black, leather chair, studying Naruto's expression. He looked like he was trying to absorb himself into the overly dramatic novella he was watching, but it seemed as if he was struggling to understand, and struggling against spacing out.

After a few minutes of Sakura blabbering on the other side of the line and Neji not hearing a word she was saying, Naruto finally said something. It was along the lines of _"Raoul, por que?"_

Sakura stopped her rambling and was most likely blinking, dumbstruck. "Naruto," Neji answered simply, when the pink-haired girl asked who had said that. "Consider that his way of saying hello. He's not exactly sober."

There was more silence. "I agree, but what can we do? He should solve this on his own…" Neji trailed off, watching the novella from the corners of his eyes. It was actually slightly interesting, with all its unrealistic drama and what not. "Really? You do?" Another pause. "Sounds like a plan," he said, heavy sarcasm evident in his baritone voice.

Sakura did some angry ranting on the other side of the line for a little under a minute, and Neji just sighed. "Alright, see you at seven," he said that and then successfully cut off her speaking with a push of a button. Neji placed his phone back into his pocket and then exhaled heavily, falling back into the chair he was sitting in. He stayed there for a few minutes, watching Naruto as he watched television, seeming to be thinking. Eventually Neji stood up, walked over to where Naruto was, and took a seat beside him. The two of them proceeded to watch the novella in silence.

* * *

The smoke was so prominent that it was palpable in the air outside, lingering heavily over the entire city. It polluted the air so much that it was tangible and that breathing was barely allowed. Smoke from distant fires was blowing westward, having to pass through the coastal city before reaching the ocean. Naruto stood entranced, watching the ominous, thick haze outside from inside of Neji's mansion. He thought he had seen an orange glow in the distance, coming over one of the enormous mountains. Where the glow was the sky was also bright orange, taking on its color. The orange mingled with the natural, midnight blue color of the sky beautifully, despite the obvious danger of the glow.

Neji emerged from one of the seemingly endless hallways, the sound of his footsteps echoing throughout the spacious room. He halted in the open area in between the living room and the main stairs and glanced over at Naruto. His friend was standing in front of the large multi-story windows, gazing outside and scrutinizing something unseen through the smoke, his back facing Neji. Naruto still wore the same clothes; still carried the pungent stench of alcohol (and the slightest hint of vanilla, due to the ice cream) wherever he went. Neji glanced at the large, exquisite, antique analog clock hanging on the wall. It was ten minutes till seven; ten minutes until Sakura would arrive.

Neji strode across the room and halted once he was at Naruto's side. He placed his hands loosely on his hips and gazed outside, seeing nothing through the opaque smoke. The two of them stood like that for about five minutes, neither bothered by the silence. Naruto knew that Neji had a few words for him, but was waiting for Naruto to openly acknowledge that first. He admired the starless blue-black night sky for a minute more before speaking. "What is it?" He asked, sighing.

"Can't a guy just admire the zero-visibility in his front yard while standing next to his friend who could really use a good shower or five?" Neji inquired, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

Naruto quickly turned and glanced at Neji, scowling. "Bullshit, that guy can just go and roast like a marshmallow in the fires," he retorted.

"Naruto, go shave your face," Neji ordered, gesturing towards a bathroom that was at the end of one of the many halls.

Naruto remained silent for a minute and just glared at Neji from the corners of his cerulean eyes. Finally, he turned around and started walking away, but not without quite audibly murmuring, "Go shave your balls," in Neji's direction.

Neji merely shook his head disapprovingly and watched as Naruto stalked away, disappearing down the hall. He was glad that Naruto had stopped sulking within the past few hours and seemed to be trying, but the 'Bitchy McBitch' attitude he had acquired and replaced it with was not exactly favorable.

He hovered near the window for a few more minutes, a ruminative expression on his face. Eventually, he found his way to the sofa and sat down, watching the clock on the wall. It was now ten past seven. At least Naruto was being thorough with his shower. Neji noted that Sakura was ten minutes late, if she was coming at all. He would not blame her if she could not make it in these conditions.

Surely enough, five minutes later headlights seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of the Hyuuga mansion. Upon closer inspection, an outline of a car was evident through the thick haze. The headlights turned off and a silhouette emerged from the car which began to hastily run up the steps, throwing themselves at the door and ringing the doorbell repeatedly. Neji was quickly at the door and opened it only enough to allow Sakura to enter and for most of the smoke to remain outside.

Sakura coughed into her hand, sniffing a lock of her long, cotton candy pink hair when she was done. "I smell like a hardcore smoker. I swear I just got lung cancer from being out there for less than a minute." She wrinkled her nose at the sickeningly sweet scent.

Neji waved the air in front of him with one hand, trying to dispel the smoke. "It couldn't have been worse than that one time I found you passed out in a room with a bong." He grinned amiably when Sakura's eyes widened considerably.

She merely growled at him, wanting to knock that recollection out of his memory with her fist. Sakura could not exactly do that, though. It was not as if he was Naruto. She sighed, remembering the now sullen blond. "I'm staying the night. I didn't know it was this bad in the city. You know how I live in the boonies. I had to drive like two miles per hour since I couldn't see anything two feet in front of my face." With that miniature rant she strode over to the overly-large kitchen, which was any gourmet chef's dream come true. She sat in a stool and ran her fingers over the cool marble countertops, Neji following after her.

"Why did you ask me to come here?" Sakura asked conversationally, glancing at her friend.

"What do you think?" He questioned rhetorically. "I'm trying to convince him to do something useful and at least try to do something other than sit his ass on my couch. I think I succeeded a bit in that, but now he bitches whenever I talk to him."

"Have you considered getting his ass out of your house? I mean, he has a life he has to get back to. He can't sulk over Sasuke forever. I think he needs a little push," Sakura offered, musing.

"No, I'm afraid that he'll just sit his ass on his own couch and be out of my surveillance. His door has a lock on it, Sakura, and I'm not too fond of breaking and entering. I'm pretty sure that I'll have him out of here on his own will by tomorrow afternoon, though," Neji said with an air of assurance.

"I still say that you send his emo ass back to his dorm. We can take out his door and replace it with beads or some other shit. Hardly anyone chooses to live in the dorms when they have their luxurious homes not so far away," Sakura said pointedly, while Neji just gave her an odd look.

"Beads? What the hell are-?" Neji was unable to finish his sentence, since he had stopped speaking once he saw Naruto enter his kitchen. He blinked once when he saw him, and then frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. Sakura blinked and bit her lip, her face flushing slightly.

Naruto was walking around in Neji's kitchen with nothing but a towel loosely hugging his hips, looking like it was going to slide off him any second now. He ambled around Neji's kitchen barefoot, leaving a neat trail of water behind him as he moved. He hadn't even took the time to dry himself, his toned body gleaming with a coat of water; his golden hair limp, matted against his forehead, and a shade darker. He was on the other side of the kitchen, and was currently shuffling through the contents of Neji's fridge. It was only when he straightened himself that he noticed that two other people were present in the room.

Naruto stared at the two of them, knowing that the white figure was Neji, and the person with vibrant, pink hair was unmistakably Sakura. He blinked, wondering what she was doing here. He did not have a chance to ask her, though, since Neji had already stood up, strode across the kitchen, and was now standing before Naruto.

"That's it. Get out of my damn house."

* * *

It was Friday now, four days since Neji had decided to send Naruto packing, and one week since Naruto had decided to tell, or more so, show Sasuke how he felt. A week of living with his horrible self, a week of wondering how Sasuke was fairing. A week without seeing him, but not a minute without thinking of him. Due to the fires, classes had been canceled for the last three days. One could not learn in an environment where they could not breathe. The haze had cleared late last night, and even though the air quality was still very poor, they sent all students in the city back to their schools, unless they chose to stay home and fail.

Naruto especially hated going to school on normal days, and he was absolutely loathing it with a passion today. He only had one class with Sasuke, which was Professor Hatake's class, and just the thought of entering that room sent adrenaline rushing through his veins. When the time had come, he quickly made his way into the room and took the first seat he saw available in the front row. Naruto had slunk low into his seat, not having to turn around to know that Sasuke was sitting in the far right of the back row with an empty seat beside him.

Kakashi had noticed Naruto's change of seating, but something in the blonde's expression kept him from saying anything. He just sat on top of his desk and began speaking as the majority of the class took notes religiously on the lecture. Surprisingly, Naruto had too, even though his thoughts had been entirely elsewhere. He wondered if Sasuke had been as affected as he was, but then he remembered quickly that he had been crying when he had so cruelly left. That did not mean that he could not have healed already, or at least have reestablished the barriers between himself in the world. That meant the next time Naruto would try to talk to him, it would be incredibly difficult. Sasuke would be distant and guarded, and it would be like starting from scratch. Naruto could almost laugh, whose fault was that? The next time he talked to him, he did not know when that would be. After all, he was being a coward. The next time he spoke to him, it would be like trying to rekindle love with a stranger.

He wondered what Sasuke thought of him, now. He probably thought Naruto was being pathetic, weak, cowardly, and taking it harder than he should. He could not help it if he wore his heart on his sleeve, though. At the same time, Sasuke probably thought that Naruto was a cruel bastard, and he was most likely wondering how he had ever fallen in love with such a person in the first place. Maybe then, it would work out, somehow. Sasuke had asked Naruto how it was possible to love a person like him. Naruto understood exactly how he felt, now.

Before he realized it, the hour was over and everyone around him was gathering their things and filing out of the large room. He stood up, slowly at first, but his pace quickened once he was making his way up the stairs and towards the exit. He saw a flash of blue and black behind him, and he had to resist the urge to start running. He did not notice that Sakura waiting for him in the hall; he strode straight past her and went out the doors, heading towards his car. Usually, it was easy to spot his ostentatious car amongst all the other cars in the parking lot, but today he was unfocused and it was becoming difficult. After a good five minutes of searching, he finally found his car. He opened the door, tossed his books in the passenger seat, got in, and drove away, heading towards the nearest Starbucks.

He sat down at a table in the back corner of Starbucks with his coffee and stirred it idly, staring off into space. He knew he had another class attend in an hour, but when the time came to leave his body would not budge. He sat there during the duration of his class, stirring his drink and sipping it occasionally. It was about three in the afternoon when he finally left, throwing out his almost full coffee on the way out. In a zombie-like daze, he drove back toward campus, and somehow he found himself standing in front of the door to Sasuke's room, unsure of how he got there.

Naruto stood in front of the door awkwardly, unsure of what he wanted to do. The only thing standing between him and Sasuke was a mere wooden door. Hesitantly, he reached out towards the doorknob, his arm shaking the slightest bit as he waged an internal war with himself. He wanted to try and make things better, as they once were, but his apprehension prevented him from doing so. What would he say? What would he do? Would Sasuke listen? Would he care? He drew his arm back slightly, glancing back towards his own room. He wondered if he should act on impulse. He could not remember, had that ever done him any good? He closed his eyes and exhaled, placing his fingertips on the doorknob once he opened them. He twisted the knob slightly, giving it a try. The door was open.

Adrenaline pulsed through his veins and his heart rate increased. He convinced himself that he was would do it, not giving a second thought to how uncertain he was. Naruto slipped, though, and whispered his name aloud. "Sasuke…" Quickly, he withdrew his arm from the door and took a few steps back, apprehensive that the said person had just heard him. He re-evaluated the situation and quickly started down the hallway, towards his respective dorm.

Naruto locked himself in his room, pushed random junk off of his bed, and then collapsed onto it. He sighed, pulling a pillow over his head, attempting to control the rate of his breathing. He was such an idiot to think… He was not ready, he needed more time. But would it be like this every time he tried to confront Sasuke? Briefly, he thought back to how it was every time he considered telling Sasuke how he felt. It was better to just push everything aside and do it, ignoring the consequences. Just, not today…

Naruto's phone began to ring and he pulled it out of his pocket. He brought it to his ear without lifting his head up from beneath his pillow. "Hello?" He said grudgingly, his voice muffled, aware that he sounded like shit.

"Naruto? Are you at your dorm?" A voice asked, and it took Naruto a minute to realize that it was Neji who was speaking.

"Um, yeah." He said that after a few seconds, having a delayed reaction. His thoughts were elsewhere, not on the conversation he was currently having with Neji.

There was a long pause. "…Are you crying?" Neji asked suddenly, sounding wary and concerned at the same time. Naruto blinked his dull blue eyes, wondering what his friend was talking about. The blond quickly swiped a hand beneath one of his eyes, finding that his cheeks were wet with tears. He had been silently sobbing and he had not even noticed.

"I guess so," Naruto admitted dismissively.

"Alright that's….all I needed to know. Bye, Naruto." Naruto just mumbled something incoherent in response and snapped his phone shut without saying a word, putting it back in his pocket. He returned to holding the pillow in place over his head, closing his eyes and losing himself in his thoughts. Neji, though, frowned when he heard no response from the blond, other than the line going dead. He sighed and decided that it was about time to fix this. Naruto needed a lot more than a push.

He speed-dialed Sakura immediately and brought the phone to his ear.

* * *

(A/n): Okay, really I tried! You must believe me, cause if not…I'll cry, dammit! Eh, this came out meh. Hehe that rhymed. Well, anyways, I'm a stupid-ass sap. SO BLAH. (collapses onto couch surrounded by alcohol and ice cream) RAUL! POR QUE? Dx Um, yeah. Well, Naruto and Sasuke will get together eventually, when I feel like it….(evil-Orochimaru-laugh) Haha, Sakura and Neji like to talk about Naruto's ass.

Review! Merci beaucoup & au revoir!


	18. Making Up and Making Out

Thank you for all your lovely and supportive reviews. Here it is, finally. I didn't take nearly as long as I did last time, did I? I'm a stupid ass overdramatic sap, and I don't give a fuck. I like this chapter. I don't think I'm sane right now. Now I'm gonna go be emo in the corner. Bye.

I loves Fluffeh-kohai (Flourescized) because she is awesome and I am her slave for she draws me pictures. She drew a NaruSasu picture for smile yesh but I don't remember if she was done. Yeah. I love her. Bye.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _See last chapter. But Neji and Sakura are coming out of the closet.

_Warnings:_ Eh, just read. As if the title isn't enough.

_Reviews are better than them pills with the happy faces on it, so give me lots of them. __I use flames to barbecue people who say shit about my fic. iMerci et enjoy! I know I will._

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: MAKING UP AND MAKING OUT**

Sakura leant against the wall and glanced down the long hallway, trying to remember which one of the many doors was the entrance to Naruto's dorm. She would have stuffed her fists into her pockets long ago, if she had not chosen that day to wear her new suede mini. Sakura did not know how much longer she would have to wait for Neji to arrive. The pink-haired girl had been incredibly anxious, she was tossing and turning all night thinking about today, and she ended up being rather early. She estimated that she had been standing there for about an hour now. She knew it was stupid, but she could not think of anything else other than that. Sakura was apprehensive that at any moment Naruto would walk out of his room and see the conspicuous girl. She then would have to face him by herself, without the aid of a very persuasive Hyuuga.

Sakura sighed heavily and continued to wait, not exactly bored of standing there for so long. She did not know whether she was looking forward to talking to Naruto or dreading it. Nevertheless, she still remained solicitous; therefore waiting was not somniferous in any manner. Her patience, though, was running quite short. She sighed again and tousled her pink hair, running it through her fingers. She hoped that they would be able to convince Naruto to talk to Sasuke and fix whatever had happened. She was the one that Naruto had revealed the most to, and yet she was still confused on what exactly happened. Sakura surmised that it was supposed to be that way, though; she was positive she would only grow more confused if she knew the entire situation. Emotions were inexplicable things.

Even though they had sent Naruto home in their best interests, he did not seem to be much better than he was when he was playing wasted couch potato. Of course, he would get up every day, drag himself out of bed, and go to class. He would do nothing other than that, though. She was positive that he was malnourished. Sakura hated to admit it, but she had taken on the qualities of a stalker, and had been following Naruto around and paying very close attention to him lately. She had not seen him pick up anything edible. She had not even heard him talk much; whenever they (Sakura, Naruto, and Neji. Gaara and Ino had ditched them for the time being) would meet after a class, he would become a part of their tight cluster, but never contribute much to the conversation. Naruto was always much too busy staring past everyone, looking at something that she could not see. Sakura was worried, she knew he was trying, but it was insufficient. It was as if a part of him had died, and both Sakura and Neji feared that if they waited too long, it would never be revived. Due to that, they had come to the decision of persuading Naruto into making up with Sasuke, and if persuasion did not work, Sakura was willing to use force. After that phone call Neji had made to check up on Naruto, in which he discovered him crying, they knew that they would have to intervene.

For those reasons, she was now there, waiting idly, lost in her own thoughts, her emerald eyes nebulous. She had been worried that it would not work, worried about Naruto, and a miniscule part of her was worried about Sasuke. Sakura was always worried about herself, worried that she would not be able to control her emotions and would say something that she would regret. She did not want it to result in her crying either. The situation with Naruto and Sasuke was taking a toll on everyone, especially her.

She found herself wondering briefly if Naruto had forgiven her for her irrational behavior. She could not recall; had she ever apologized to him? At the time, Sakura had been more concerned with the problems between him and Sasuke rather than the ones between herself and Naruto. Grudgingly, Sakura admitted that the problems with Sasuke had taken a much, much larger toll on him than the ones with his ex-girlfriend. The pink-haired girl smiled weakly to herself and sighed inwardly. She still was not quite over him, even if she had crossed over to the light side, as Ino had so brilliantly stated. Sakura thought briefly of Ino, a violent pang surging through her. They should be allies; they should be best friends. She promised herself after they had made everything right between Naruto and Sasuke that she would not stop there. Sakura would not be satisfied until she had regained Ino's friendship. Her thoughts flickered to Gaara as she recalled his angry exit at the Hyuuga Mansion about a week ago.

Sakura assumed that fifteen more minutes must have passed. She frowned to herself; how early had she been? She stopped using the wall for support and stood up straight. She began to pace restlessly, looking down at her beige boots. She and Neji had planned what they would do to ensure that Naruto would carry out the act of speaking to Sasuke, but that did not indicate that she had any idea of what they were going to say to persuade him to action. She recited a few lines in her head that she thought she could use, but it felt inadequate. She knew what the central aspect of her argument would be.

_You two love each other._

Although Naruto was uncertain of it, somehow Sakura knew that it was true. It could be no other way; the devastation each felt was proof. She had been unfortunate enough to see Naruto in all his misery for herself. Naruto had said that he had made Sasuke cry.

Sakura sighed, feeling as if she was in high school once more, preparing to deliver a speech to her entire grade. Suddenly, she felt a nervous, churning sensation in the pit of her stomach. Usually, she never had a problem with confrontation, but the situation hardly had anything to do with her; the consequences would not affect her directly. Sakura felt as if she was holding the fragile shards that were the remnants of Naruto and Sasuke's relationship in her bare hands. She had not forgotten, though, about Neji's part.

Just as she was reminded of him, she heard footsteps echoing through the halls of the dormitory building. Her heart accelerated for a moment and she turned to her side, afraid that her gaze would land on Naruto. Instead of seeing golden hair and tanned skin, she saw dark hair, dark eyes, and ghostly pale skin. There stood Sasuke, Naruto's complete opposite in appearance. Her elevated heart rate did not subside, though; she feared that it would beat so hard that it would leap from her chest. In no way had she been expecting to see the Uchiha there. Sakura attempted to not seem anxious or suspicious as she stood in the hall. She glanced at him as casually as she could, swallowing involuntarily as she met his icy gaze.

She noticed that he appeared to be just returning to his dorm and wondered why he was about so early. Sasuke reached for the doorknob, but did not look away from her. Sakura stood her ground and folded her arms behind her back, wondering whether or not she should greet him. He did not glare at her, but his stare held some hostile emotion that she could not identify. She discerned his anger, but his expression held no indication of that. His lips were a thin line, his countenance was apathetic, and his eyes were a void. She felt as if she was staring into the eyes of a sculpture. Sasuke might as well have been made of stone.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak but hesitated. Sasuke regarded her coolly, as if she was no longer there. He turned his focus to his door, opened it, and disappeared inside, the door shutting behind him with a soft click. Sakura stared at where Sasuke had just been standing and a frown settled onto her pink lips. She considered that she should have said something to him; perhaps she should speak to both of them rather than merely Naruto. The pink-haired girl sighed; regardless, she had just lost her opportunity. Her thoughts drifted once more and she found herself pondering on how Naruto could have possibly fallen in love with someone such as Sasuke. Abruptly, she realized that she was not asking the right question. How could someone such as Sasuke have fallen in love with Naruto? When Sakura had received his cold stare, she had thought that someone such as him was incapable of feeling such a fervent emotion.

Sakura sighed, annoyed with herself. She was judging Sasuke, though she had no concept of what he was capable, so she concluded that she would not make assumptions. Sakura made another amend to herself. After everything was over, when Naruto and Sasuke were together, when she and Ino rekindled their friendship, when Gaara returned, she would become friendly with Sasuke. Most likely, it would be nothing beyond the level of an acquaintanceship, but she would not be satisfied until they had a civilized conversation. After all, she had to tell Naruto whether or not she approved of his new boyfriend. The pink-haired girl smiled to herself, looking forward to brighter days.

"You look happy," Neji observed, startling her. Sakura jumped and quickly glanced at Neji, her emerald eyes slightly wide. She had not even heard him approach, much less knew that he had been standing beside her. Sakura detested his ability to be so stealthy. She wondered how long he had been there. She glared at him, but she was only met with a content smile.

Sakura sighed. "I was just thinking, you know….of when all of this is over. I've had enough drama for a lifetime within these past few months, especially these past two weeks." She crossed her arms across her chest and looked down at her boots.

"I hope that means you're confident that we're going to get through to Naruto with our little plan," Neji commented, remaining at ease. Sakura glanced at him, curious about his pleasant mood. She snorted and rolled her eyes, moving her hands to her hips.

"What plan? You just called me and told me that no matter what we are going to get Naruto off his ass so he and Sasuke can go play kissy-face," she said dryly. On the subject of Sasuke, she was reminded of his presence in his room. "Keep your voice down," she whispered. "I just saw Sasuke earlier. He could be hearing everything we're saying right now, and I don't think he'll appreciate that."

"Don't be ridiculous," Neji said, but he was whispering nonetheless. "He couldn't hear us unless he had his ear intentionally pressed against the wall." He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "You said you saw him earlier," he stated, eying Sakura, his eyes indecipherable.

Sakura hesitated for a moment, and then answered. "Yes. We didn't say anything though. He just kinda glared at me, but not really. I don't know, it's hard to explain…" She trailed off, avoiding Neji's eyes. She sighed with frustration looked down the hallway to where Naruto's room was. "He didn't look happy, though."

She did not need to turn around to know that Neji was smirking. "I figured as much," he muttered and took a few steps forward so that he was now standing alongside Sakura. He followed her gaze and peered at Naruto's door, his expression changing to match Sakura's contemplative one. "Are you ready?" He asked, turning to face her.

"Am I ready?" Sakura echoed, her voice sounding strange to her own ears. She bit her lip and glanced downward as she was dragged into her thoughts. She did not feel prepared, but she wished that she could be. It was not as if she had a choice, though; it was absolutely necessary that they talked to Naruto. They would have preferred it if he approached Sasuke on his own, without any assistance, but Naruto's self-doubt and self-hate were hindering any and all progress. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, then stared directly ahead, looking down the hallway. Sakura was already beginning to feel nervous. "I guess so. I have no idea what I'm going to say to him, though," she answered truthfully.

"Don't worry about it, I'm here too, if you forgot. It's much less complicated than you're making it, Sakura, it's just a talk," Neji reassured her. She looked up at his face; that was easy enough for him to say. Neji was always calm, always perfectly in control. Staring into his doubtless eyes, though, did not encourage her. The situation was different for him than it was for her. She could not find the right words to explain it; perhaps she was overreacting. Sakura was quite prone to doing that.

"Just a talk that the happiness of Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Gaara, and me depends on. I don't think I could take it if we, well, failed in our little plan. What if Naruto is still being bitchy and we end up making everything worse? What if we can't convince him and he runs off and kills himself or something?" Sakura asked, her brow furrowing with worry. Neji regarded her simply.

"It's time," he stated after taking one last glance at Sakura. He began to stride down the hallway toward Naruto's dorm. Sakura hesitated and then followed him, everything that had occurred in the past few weeks running quickly through her mind.

Neji halted in front of the door and raised his fist to knock on it, but turned to look at Sakura before he did so. He frowned when he saw her, and Sakura stared at him with confusion in response. When he raised his hand and wiped his finger beneath one of her emerald eyes, she blinked with a lack of comprehension. Neji showed her the fresh tears gleaming on his finger.

"Oh," Sakura murmured. She had not even realized that she had been crying, and she had promised herself that she would not. She smiled bitterly to herself, carefully removing every trace of her tears without smudging her cosmetics. Once she was finished, she pushed Neji out of the way and reached for the doorknob, finding it open. She twisted it and opened the door only enough to poke her head inside. Neji was right behind her.

There sat Naruto, surprisingly awake, flipping idly through the pages of a magazine, his eyes unfocused. Sakura opened the door completely and she and Neji stepped into the room quietly. They waited for Naruto to acknowledge them; if he did realize that they were there, he did not show it. After about a minute of awkwardly and silently standing there, Naruto looked up, regarding them with his dark blue eyes.

"Oh, hey guys. What are you doing here?" Naruto asked dully, putting the magazine aside. He glanced at his digital clock and then looked back to Sakura and Neji, a small frown evident on his lips.

"Hi, Naruto," they greeted in unison, and then glanced at each other. Sakura giggled nervously. "Um…me and Neji need to talk to you," she said, walking over to the bed and taking a seat. Neji mimicked her actions.

"About what?" Naruto questioned, his tone not quite suspicious, but not quite trusting. He raised his blond eyebrows and looked at them with something that he probably meant to be inquisitiveness.

"About your current situation," Neji started, staring straight into Naruto's eyes. "With Sasuke."

Naruto stared at him for a brief moment before looking down, his expression unreadable. "There is no situation," Naruto murmured, almost in a wistful, forlorn tone. His statement failed miserably in dismissing anything. Sakura thought that he looked somewhere caught in between anger and sadness now.

"Don't kid yourself, Naruto. I know you've been thinking about going to him and fixing things, but that's all you've been doing. Thinking. You're not transforming your thoughts into actions and we're worried that it'll be too long….You're barely better than the lifeless zombie you were. Please, for us, for you, for what you and Sasuke have, speak to him." Neji finished, using a persuasive, yet gentle tone as he spoke. It was as if he feared that if he said something wrong, he would send Naruto running away. Sakura knew exactly how that felt. She bit her lip, just watching, disappointed with herself for not contributing.

"So this is why you come…" Naruto mused. "Stop worrying about me. You can't just come for a visit as a friend, now can you? It has to be about me and my problems..._My_ problems," he emphasized, looking at them with an accusing stare.

"No, we can't come and visit you casually until you fix this problem with Sasuke," Neji said firmly, gazing at Naruto nonchalantly. Sakura caught a hint of a budding frown on his lips, though. "It's affected you too greatly, and it's affecting us as well. We hate to see you like this, Naruto. Speaking to him, or at least making an attempt to do so, is for the best."

"I told you, I've been thinking…" Naruto managed, struggling with his words.

"And that's all," Neji retorted smoothly. Sakura admired his uncanny ability to speak so calmly.

Naruto hesitated for a moment. He glanced between his two friends and sighed. Sakura was not contributing much to the conversation, she simply remained quiet and observed, but he could tell that she was nervous. Neji, though, was quite perceptive; he knew exactly what to say. There was no point in lying to him. He sighed, his stubbornness subdued for a moment. "Yes," Naruto admitted grudgingly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You know it's just hurting the two of you even more by being apart like this, not knowing what the other is thinking or how the other feels…hating yourselves," Neji said, looking at him with his strange, omniscient eyes. Naruto felt like a hole was being bore through him with that stare. He knew that Neji was right, yet he could not break free of his own thoughts. How could Neji be so sure? How could he possibly have any idea…? Sakura noticed Naruto's expression grow frustrated. "Even if you think there is nothing there to salvage, you cannot simply end it on a note such as this. Even if he was being difficult…I know that you won't be able to live with yourself unless you try. I know you want to apologize, even if he decides not to listen."

Naruto looked down, remaining silent as he waged a war with himself. He seemed confused, among a variety of other, unidentifiable, emotions. Sakura thought that she saw a hint of annoyance there; annoyance towards Neji, irritated with him for being so right, and for knowing everything as if he could see directly into Naruto's mind. Then, she noticed that his fists were clenched and that he was tense, but as soon as she took note of this, he appeared to relax. "How do you do that?" Naruto murmured. Neji inferred that the question was directed at him. He did not respond; he merely watched and waited. Naruto exhaled heavily, brushing his overgrown, golden hair out of his face, only to have it fall back in place. He looked up and smiled crookedly, but the smile did not reach his eyes. That did not mean, though, that it failed to make Sakura's heart skip a beat. "It's like you can read my mind. Sometimes you scare the shit out of me, Nej, with that ability of yours," Naruto said, almost looking like he could laugh.

Sakura breathed a heavy sigh of relief, though she was uncertain of whether Naruto was convinced into action yet. Neji returned Naruto's smile, smirking at him. "Good, because it looked like scaring the shit out of you was the only way I could get you to talk to Sasuke," he commented, almost ominously.

"Well, there's no need for that. I want to go, but…" Naruto trailed off, struggling with his words again. "The image has stuck with me." Sakura scrutinized him, unsure of what he meant. Neji knew instantly, though, that he was talking about the last time he saw Sasuke. The sight of a devastated Sasuke had been carved into his memory. Neji surmised that Naruto could not forget the sound of his sobs either. With a little appliance of his persuasive skills, Sakura had told him what Naruto had revealed to her regarding Sasuke.

"I understand what you mean, Naruto. But you have to try…you can replace it with something better. Such as an image of Sasuke smiling, once you get in there and apologize to him."

"How can you be so sure that things will work out?" Naruto queried with skepticism. Although he doubted Neji greatly, he was still hopeful. He could always wish for the highly unlikely to occur, despite its improbability. Neji looked thoughtful for a moment, and then his lips spread into a smile slowly.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask Sakura?" Neji suggested, not looking at the pink-haired girl beside him, raising his brown eyebrows at Naruto instead. Naruto pursed his lips and looked at Neji questioningly, then shifted his gaze to Sakura. She squirmed a bit, her cheeks growing slightly rosy. "Sakura?" Neji inclined, finally turning to face her. Naruto gazed at her expectantly.

"Um, well," she stuttered, hesitating. This was the first time she had spoken since she had greeted Naruto when they had arrived. Somehow, she felt like she was under pressure as two pairs of eyes stared down at her. She swallowed, nervous. "Well, I think it's obvious," Sakura began, her voice somewhat hushed. She thought back to when she was pondering in the hallway earlier. Her eyes flickered to Naruto's own and she kept them there, making sure that she held his gaze. "Because you two love each other." Sakura did not blink, nor did she think twice. "Really, I've never seen anything like it before…" She muttered, mostly to herself, glancing downward. Her eyes then flickered back to Naruto and what he saw in her emerald eyes surprised him. Absolute certainty, strength, and stubbornness. He would like to think that was what he had looked like when he had admitted his feelings to Sasuke. In a way, he could understand how someone could be frightened by that. Naruto wondered how she could be so confident of something of which he was not assured. She was not inside his head, but then again, Sakura could see his actions from the outside and the expressions on his face when he could not.

Naruto broke eye contact with Sakura and glanced away casually, staring at the empty space next to her instead. He remained like that for a few minutes, with Neji and Sakura's eyes on him during the entire time. Blue eyes then glanced down uncertainly, flicked upward, and then looked to the side, at the faces of the two people sitting there. Their expressions were neutral, they did not encourage him nor discourage him, simply waiting for a response, but Naruto thought that there was a glimmer of hope in Sakura's eyes. He sighed as if he was making a great self-sacrifice and then slowly, his lips erupted into an uncertain, guarded smile, yet still genuine.

"Okay," Naruto acquiesced, exhaling.

Both the lips of Neji and Sakura erupted into almost ecstatic smiles. They also released breaths of relief. Sakura was smiling so widely she looked like her face was about to break. Neji, though, kept his smile slightly reserved. "Oh, Naruto, you idiot! Finally, thank you!" Sakura exclaimed, unable to control her sudden happiness. He merely stared at her, nodding his head absentmindedly. He was in fact an idiot; he would be even more of one if he ever denied it. Naruto was caught greatly by surprise when Sakura threw herself at him and landed in his arms.

He shifted further back into the chair with the weight that was suddenly flung at him and sat awkwardly, his arms around Sakura. She hugged him enthusiastically despite his lack of a response and buried her pink head into his chest. Naruto hesitated and then hugged her back, patting the back of the white, sleeveless vest she was wearing. He could not even begin to describe how unexpected that had been. They had not touched in such a manner in months. Neji sighed contently as he watched Sakura hug Naruto and walked over to them, adding in a small awkward hug of his own_. _

Sakura and Neji backed away from Naruto and stood in the middle of the room, looking at Naruto. They all smiled awkwardly at each other for a few moments before Neji spoke up. "So, when do you plan to talk to him?" Neji inquired casually. Sakura looked at the blond and nodded.

Naruto pursed his lips and glanced between each of their faces, looking somewhat suspicious. "Why do you need to know that?" He asked. They were already asking him that when he had just agreed barely five minutes ago. He was still becoming accustomed to the idea that he would take action and now they were pressuring him for an exact time. Naruto had to admit, it made him nervous.

Sakura interjected, answering for Neji. She decided that this time she was going to be an active participant in the conversation, rather than just an observer. "We need to know so that we can come and check up on your dumbass and make sure that you truly tried your hardest to make things better with Sasuke. We don't want you shirking out of this," she said, almost fiercely. Naruto decided that it was best just to nod. "Right, Neji?" Sakura turned to the man beside her and stared at him.

"Yes," he agreed, throwing Sakura an odd glance when she was not looking. He cleared his throat and then continued. She had been so uncertain and irrationally nervous in the hallway. He had anticipated her suddenly becoming fervid. "So when?" Neji prodded.

Naruto thought for a brief moment and glanced at the digital clock on his night table. It told him that it was eight o' clock in the morning. He had to give himself enough time to think about what he was going to say; enough time to gather the courage to speak to Sasuke, enough time to prepare himself for what he knew was inevitably coming. He could not allow himself too much time, though, because then he would be tempted to shirk out of confronting Sasuke. "This afternoon," he decided, "right after noon, a little after lunch time, if it really matters that much to you guys."

"It really does mean a lot to us. You don't know how much," Sakura told him, smiling brightly. Naruto stared at her still, not quite over her sudden change in attitude toward him. It was good, though, to have her on his side again. He felt as if they were on better terms with each other than they were back when they had supposedly been in love. They understood each other now; they were better people now. In the span of a few months, they had matured immensely, becoming less shallow and selfish. He considered that perhaps something would bloom from the abundant sorrow. Carefully, Naruto returned Sakura's smile.

"I guess I'm really grateful to the two of you. Well….thanks…."

"No problem," Neji said sincerely. "We'll be going now, Naruto. Stop by after classes tomorrow, at my house. We'd like to know how it went. You could bring a friend along, if you'd like," he said, not-so-subtly dropping hints. Naruto merely stared at him; he did not appear convinced. "It's just a suggestion," Neji said casually, almost innocently. That was strange.

Naruto hesitated for a moment. "I…I might just take you up on that offer."

"That's right," Sakura agreed, grinning. Naruto was starting to think that his two friends were not exactly sane. Someone with that much confidence in him could not be thinking straight. He thought back to what Sakura had said briefly. Could that really make someone so sure…? "We'll be watching, Naruto." Her words snapped Naruto out of his daze. He had no idea what she meant by that. Sakura giggled and Neji rolled his eyes expertly, then the two of them said their goodbyes. The blond just nodded, waved, and closed to door behind them when they left. He dragged himself over to his bed, feeling disconnected from his body. His breathing was shallow. In about four hours, he was going to try to set everything right. Naruto collapsed onto his bed, buried his face into his pillow, and found himself wishing that it smelt like peaches. He almost smiled, but his anxiousness prevented him from doing so. In an attempt to calm himself down, he remembered Sakura's words.

_That's right….because I love him._

* * *

Naruto sat on his bed, his hands buried deep into his golden hair with frustration. He thought back to when he was last in this exact position, before he had ever so foolishly gone to confess his feelings to Sasuke. Was he not about to do that again? He was certain that would be included in the apology. When Sasuke asked him why he kept on trying so hard, why he kept on coming back, there was only one answer, even if it did not make sense entirely. It was because Naruto was in love with him, so fervently that it hurt to think about his love; to think about what had happened last. Naruto was almost praying that the history between himself and Sasuke would not repeat itself. This was so much like the last time; the uncertainty, yet the desire, the foolishness, yet the rationality. There was, though, a major difference this time. Before there was nothing holding back his own feelings other than himself, and then Sasuke's reluctance, as he later found out. Now it was so much more than that; hate, anger, pain, and confusion were thrown into the mix. Therefore this time, it had to be different. Naruto promised himself that it was going to be different.

He would not lose his temper and yell at his most precious person. He would not say anything to hurt him again, at least not intentionally, as he had before. He would remain calm and listen to everything that Sasuke had to say and try to understand him without jumping to any rash conclusions. If Sasuke had anything to say at all; perhaps, for him, there were no words left. Maybe he did have something left to say, but would refuse to open himself up to Naruto again in apprehension. The last time he had done that would certainly be lingering in the back of Sasuke's mind, as it would be for Naruto. He did not know how long it would be before he could think of Sasuke without associating their horrible fight with him. He hoped it would be soon; he truly wanted to believe Sakura and Neji's words. He wished that their confidence in him was not completely foolish. It was as if they had pulled the reasons for it out of thin air. He did not see any reason to have confidence. Sakura's words were still ringing through his ears. He was more than certain that he was in love with Sasuke. Every part of his being was more than aware of his love, but that did not mean it was mutual. Sasuke said he hated him, but Sakura had said that his tears were because he loved Naruto; but that could have easily changed in the time since they had last seen each other, but Sakura said that feelings do not dissipate so easily. He wondered from where she attained her logic.

He sighed in aggravation and pulled his hands out of his hair. He was supposed to be utilizing the time to gather enough courage so that he would not be rendered a complete coward when he spoke to Sasuke. Instead, he was using it to brood on the past and discourage himself with his many doubts. Being confident, though, still did not make any sense at all to him. He considered that it might not need to make sense; after all, his love for Sasuke was not quite rational. He had attempted to make Sasuke understand that the last time they had spoken and he had failed miserably. Naruto concluded that he did not need reason to support his love. One abandons all reason as soon as they fall for another. He could not try to force love and reason together. At these thoughts, he felt slightly better, but was still nowhere near feeling self-assured. Although, Naruto had to try, for himself, for Sasuke, for everyone…What had originally been his problem was no longer solely his own.

Just like the first time, he tried to rehearse what he would say to Sasuke in his head. He imagined the raven-haired boy standing before him; looking at him balefully, hurt in his eyes, his lips formed into a thin line in despondence, his pale hands balled into fists, the waves of hate radiating off him. Naruto snapped open his cerulean eyes. He had not even noticed that they had been closed. It was discouraging how he could picture Sasuke looking at him like that so easily. Undoubtedly, he must have received such a look from him when they had been fighting. Naruto frowned, disliking the complicated swirl of emotions and thoughts inside of him. Everything became tangled and entwined.

_Sasuke…I'm sorry._

It was all his mind could come up with at the moment, yet somehow, it seemed like enough. What more could Naruto say, other than that? He could certainly tell Sasuke that he loved him, but he almost felt as if he would choke when he had thought that. He was sure that Sasuke knew that; Naruto had told him so, though not in those exact words. That was if Sasuke actually believed anything that Naruto had said about loving him. He did not think himself capable of articulating those three simple words directly to Sasuke though. He thought it would scare Sasuke; it frightened him enough. He sighed, contemplating accepting that he would never be fully prepared. Ready or not, Naruto knew that he had to do it. He could not live with himself if he did nothing. He inhaled deeply, closing his startling blue eyes. A feeling of serenity washed over him, yet he could still feel a bit of apprehension accumulating in the pit of his stomach.

He would just have to ignore that feeling if he could not make it disappear. There was no room for negative, unnecessary feelings. _I love him. Love is a good feeling, though, isn't it? There should certainly be room for that_. Naruto sighed once again and stood up from his position on the bed. He took a brief glance at himself in the mirror. He looked as horrible as he had when he was living on Neji's couch, the only difference was that he was clean and not in possession of alcohol. He shut his eyes momentarily and inhaled deeply, fearful of what he was about to do. Slowly, he began to walk out the door, taking careful steps, his pace controlled. Naruto did not shove all his nervous thoughts out of his mind this time; he kept them there as a reminder. He had many reasons to be anxious and he hoped that they would keep his temper under control. He found himself standing before Sasuke's door, and after a moment of hesitation, he brought his fist to the door and rapped on it lightly.

Naruto held his breath, met with nothing but silence. He waited about a minute and tried again, knocking louder. He thought that he heard someone say something, but the sound quickly dissipated into silence. Naruto contemplated leaving, but that would be the same as surrendering. Even if he would come back later and try again, it would not feel right. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the strident creak of a door opening. That was odd; Naruto was staring at the door before him and it had not moved at all. He waited and rapped again, becoming slightly impatient, but he quickly buried away that feeling.

Finally, the door opened, and Naruto inhaled sharply. He could see Sasuke through the small crevice of the door, and it did not look like he was glad to see him. Naruto said and did nothing. He was struggling to control his expression to make sure that it remained neutral. He could only see one of Sasuke's eyes, but it was enough. It was flat, dark, and emotionless. Even contempt was not to be found. It was worse than when he had first met Sasuke. At least, then, there had been dislike and annoyance. Blue met black and they remained that way for some time. Eventually, Sasuke opened the door enough to reveal himself. Aside from the look in his eyes, he had stayed exactly the same. Naruto was foolish to think that anything would have changed; it had only been almost two weeks.

They looked at each other, scrutinizing the other, their thoughts and feelings unreadable from their expressions. Naruto never broke eye contact with Sasuke. Sasuke looked away and glanced down, then opened the door entirely and moved the side, making room for Naruto to enter. Naruto did not show any change in expression, but his heart rate increased exponentially. He bowed his head slightly, so that his golden hair hid his eyes from Sasuke. Naruto walked into the center of the room and stood there while he heard the sound of Sasuke shutting the door behind him with soft click. Once the door was shut, two figures stumbled awkwardly out of a nearby janitorial closet and started to furtively make their way toward the door.

Naruto turned to face Sasuke and raised his head so that the other boy could see his eyes. Sasuke returned the stare, his expression looking strictly controlled. They stood in silence for a moment as Naruto searched for the right words. He could not think of anything, although, truthfully, he was content enough to be in the same room as Sasuke with neither of them glaring at the other. He wished that he could receive a hint to what Sasuke was thinking.

"Well, go ahead, I'm waiting," Sasuke started, breaking the prolonged silence. There was no anger, no sadness in his voice. Not even nonchalance. It was just nothing; monotonic. Naruto bit his lip nervously. "If you aren't going to say anything, then just get out," Sasuke murmured, glancing away from the blond.

Naruto hesitated for a few seconds before speaking. "I can't stop thinking about you…what I've done to you. I don't deserve you." His voice was a barely audible, precarious whisper.

Sasuke remained silent as he thought. "No," he started, sounding almost bitter. Naruto looked up at him, surprise clearly showing in his eyes. "You deserve someone better, who isn't difficult, or cold, or me." He spoke with crudity. Naruto visibly flinched, instantly becoming overwhelmed with guilt when he was reminded of what he had said to Sasuke. He was right; Sasuke was difficult, though it was not as if Naruto had been anticipating ease.

Naruto kept his eyes low, even though he knew that he should maintain eye contact with Sasuke. "I don't want anyone other than you," he uttered softly.

Sasuke paused, taken aback by that small statement. He was uncertain of what to say in response to that. "Naruto, I…I'm not sure...I..." Sasuke started. He was not stuttering, but putting a great deal of thought into his words. He trailed off, unable to say anything else. It was amazing how he could be rendered inarticulate after exchanging only a few words with Naruto.

"You don't feel that way about me anymore," Naruto deadpanned. It was a statement.

Sasuke searched Naruto's countenance for a moment, disliking what he saw there. Pretending to be so detached and impassive; that was not Naruto. He frowned, struggling for the right words. "No, that's not it…" He began, but the blond seemed the disregard the fact that he was speaking.

"I just came here to say that I'm sorry." Naruto dropped the deadpan look and stared into Sasuke's eyes, looking truly pained. Sasuke tried not to visibly wince. He absolutely hated the tone of Naruto's voice; the absolute desperation. It was pathetic. It was frightening. "So, so sorry…I never meant to hurt you. I can't even begin to express how truly sorry I am. I will never, ever do that to you again. I was such a cruel bastard to you. Call me every nasty name in the book and it will never be enough to describe what a monster I am. You don't have to forgive me, I mean, I don't even forgive myself. It would be too much for me to ask for that. I'm just, fuck, so, so sorry…" Naruto bowed his head slightly in shame. Sasuke stared at him for a moment, wondering when he had become so magnanimous. Sasuke stood unwavering, but looked as if he was on edge.

Quickly he composed himself and then spoke. "You're right," he said harshly, mercilessly. "You were an absolute bastard. I don't accept your apology, but I do acknowledge that you're sorry," he said coldly, almost glaring at Naruto. His arms were glued to his sides stiffly. His face was a careful pretense of calm detachment, contradicting his body language. Sasuke was struggling, though trying not to show that he was affected by Naruto's words. How could someone ever be so foolishly free from vindictiveness?

Naruto looked at him, crushed, not bothering to hide his emotions any longer. "I guess that's what's to be expected…" he mumbled, sounding defeated. He admitted to himself that he had been hopeful. "I just want you to know that I didn't mean…"

Sasuke cut him off, his words sharp and wintry. "You meant every word you said." He could not seem to get over his own vindictiveness, though.

Naruto hesitated, unsure of what to say next. Some tiny part of him was becoming angry at Sasuke's difficult and reluctant behavior, again. "…I'll admit to that...but that means I meant what I said about how I feel about you…that will never change. Do you have any idea-?"

"I do," Sasuke said, interrupting once more, his voice dropping in volume as he did so. He looked up to see hope flash across Naruto's face, but it was gone as soon as their eyes met. "You showed me," he reminded him.

Naruto remained silent, but he did not look away. It was unclear whether he was waiting for Sasuke to say more of if he was apprehensive of saying more himself. Sasuke bowed his head slightly so that his hair hid his face. He murmured something unintelligible and clenched his fists lightly. Naruto scrutinized Sasuke furtively, trying to see his expression. Naruto took one careful step forward. He waited for any sort of reaction, and when there was none he took a few quick steps and shortened the distance between them. Sasuke glanced upward, detecting the person looming over him. Blue met black and he looked nowhere else; he had not noticed that Naruto had raised an arm until his hand brushed against Sasuke's skin. Naruto brushed his fingertips down the side of Sasuke's face, barely touching him in a gentle caress. His hand dropped back to his side and hung there limply as he inspected Sasuke. Sasuke averted his eyes from Naruto. The blond began to take one more step toward him, but he would not allow that. He shoved Naruto away roughly and took a few steps backward, his expression some combination of anger and another unidentifiable emotion.

Naruto stumbled backward, surprised despite everything. That was what was to be expected, after all. He could not help but grow irritated; his eyes narrowed. "You hate me," he said, his voice a combination of a growl and a whisper.

"No….I don't…" Sasuke did not need to look at Naruto to know that shock was written all over his handsome face. Sasuke glanced at him to see that it had transformed into something along the lines of hope. "But it's close," he continued, his words vitriolic. "I don't hate you. I just detest you very much right now."

Naruto captured Sasuke's gaze and Sasuke found it difficult to resist looking away. "Of course…" He started, evidently discouraged. "Well, I could never hate you or dislike you or anything...When we had that fight, just know that I couldn't control myself….when you turned me down and started talking like that to me, it was like I became an entirely different person. A monster. The anger I felt towards you…I think I was really angry at myself. Never you. You never did anything wrong but I…I made you…" Naruto decided not to finish his sentence.

Sasuke was amazed at how Naruto persisted to be forgiving. He placed all culpability upon himself. Even though Sasuke knew there was some part of Naruto that wanted to shout desperately, he refrained from doing so. Naruto was trying to control himself, to be selfless, to understand, whereas Sasuke was merely being bitter. "I never turned you down. Am I not allowed to be hesitant, or confused? I'm not exactly capable of this kind of thing, Naruto."

Naruto smiled, somewhat weakly. His expression seemed precarious. "I know you tried to explain that to me, but I was lost in my own fury. I didn't hear you then. I'm not sure if it really matters to you now, but I feel absolutely horrible and…I hurt you..."

"Don't pull all the blame on yourself," Sasuke advised, his voice more calm and controlled than he felt. "I did enough on my part. I'm extremely problematic. I hurt you too. It's obvious that I did." There was a pause as Sasuke waited for Naruto to reply. The blond just regarded him with expectation. "I can't exactly say I'm sorry, though." After the words had been spoken, he gazed at Naruto apathetically.

"Well, I'm sorry." Naruto paused, his countenance becoming pensive. "The reason I got so mad was because I just wanted everything to work and to be with you so badly that it impaired my judgment. I wanted nothing else. Sasuke, you may not know this, but I've been after you for a long time." Naruto smiled at him somberly. "I grew angry when your uncertainty got in the way of that, just because I was so sure…I'm so stupid, I shouldn't be making up excuses for myself."

"You are incredibly stupid," Sasuke agreed, a sardonic edge to his tone. "Nothing will excuse…" he trailed off and paused for a few seconds, immersed in his thoughts. "You have absolutely no idea how I feel," he accused, struggling with his words, which contained a vicious quality. Internally, Sasuke condemned himself for being unable to reciprocate Naruto's generosity.

"….I'm still after you, you know," Naruto admitted, completely disregarding Sasuke's prior comment. He glanced at Sasuke once more, his face set in determination. Sasuke peered into his cerulean eyes and decided that he did not like what he discovered in those pools, because it incited an irrational apprehension within him.

"I'm not going to forgive anyone," Sasuke declared, his face contorting with anger. _Especially not myself_. "It's for the better. I can't…"

"So there's no hope, then?" Naruto asked, his voice surprisingly level. He reminded himself that this was anticipated.

"No," Sasuke responded curtly.

"You won't ever take me back?" His voice cracked slightly as his desperation became apparent.

"I never had you," Sasuke said pointedly.

Naruto merely smiled subtly. Sasuke grasped the significance of his wordless response. _You don't know that_. He glanced down at the carpet on which he stood, a swirl of unwelcome emotions raging inside of him. There was one emotion that always dominated him when he felt so unpredictable and unsure; it was anger. "Leave." He tried to speak with enmity, but he failed miserably. His statement resembled a request more than a demand. His voice was level, quiet, and nearly solemn.

"Sasuke…."

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Naruto apologized, his hopelessness and despair evident. He could think of nothing else to say. Although, that was everything he felt and needed to say contained in two simple words. He looked at Sasuke, his expression despondent. Sasuke was tired of seeing him look like that; he did not want to remember him with that facial expression. Where had his Naruto gone? He had to remind himself that Naruto had never belonged to him. He looked down, to the side, anywhere that was not where Naruto was standing.

"Get out," he ordered finally.

Naruto did not need to hear it twice. Without another word, he walked toward the door, his footsteps silent. Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed inwardly. The blond opened the door and walked down the hallway without glancing backward, again. He had told himself, Neji, and Sakura that he would try, and he did, but he had failed. He could have pushed it further in order to truly demonstrate his determination to gain Sasuke's forgiveness, but it would not have felt right. He walked slowly down the hall, his head bowed, too lost preoccupied with brooding to notice the two figures that scrambled to hide behind Sasuke's open door. Once he arrived at his door, he sighed loudly, resting his forehead on the wood. After a few seconds, he disappeared inside the room.

* * *

Sasuke lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling fan as it spun. Though he looked at it, it was as if he did not see it. He was looking through it, past it, and staring at something that could not be seen. He was not there, in his unadorned room, but lost deep within the forest of his thoughts. His arms were raised behind his head and one of his legs was crossed over the other at the knee. He remained like that for some time, the utter silence and bleakness of the room disturbing him in the back of his mind. It lacked color; life; Naruto.

When Sasuke emerged from his thoughts, he rolled over so that his face was pressed into his pillow, suffocated by the smell of peaches. The scent was too sweet; he would have much rather preferred if his pillow smelt of the Earth, the grass, the leaves; fresh and elemental, like Naruto. Exasperated with himself, he stood up from the bed and walked to the center of the room. He loitered there uselessly. The boredom and idleness he suffered from allowed his thoughts to flow freely. He scoped the room hastily for something to do, before he would start thinking of him again and of what he had said. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. No matter what he did, it would somehow trace itself back to Naruto.

Naruto had apologized, but those were mere words. Most words were meaningless to Sasuke, although he realized that words were what had incited the entire mess; words that had been left unsaid, words used in an attempt to delineate their feelings, and words which sprouted from anger. It was petty, it was foolish. Sasuke halted when he thought that. For considering the matter to be somewhat trivial, hypocritically, he only made everything more difficult. Naruto had expressed his remorse in an effort to solve their problems; he had seen the error of his ways and had nearly begged for Sasuke to come back to him. Even though Naruto had been the one who had walked away, it was as if Sasuke was the one who had left. As he mused on the notion, he fell backward into his chair.

Although everything that he desired had been delivered to him, he was still somehow able to refuse it. Naruto tried to understand and to be kind, even when Sasuke had challenged him with his crude comments and his antagonistic attitude. He had done the same thing the first time. Sasuke had not settled for what was evidently enough; he had always wanted something more, though what exactly, he did not know. He gripped his head in agitation, digging his hands into his messy raven hair. The entire situation was utterly stupid. So was Naruto. So was he.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to erase all of his thoughts, but he failed miserably. When he closed his eyes, he would imagine the forlorn face of Naruto. He found it hard to believe that the blond had been standing in his room only a few hours ago. Sasuke opened his obsidian eyes, and without a second thought, he opened his door, and then stepped into the hallway. He glanced at Naruto's door and strode toward it. He halted in front of the door with hesitance. Slowly, he raised his pale hand so that he could knock on the door.

"Come in," Naruto answered, a combination of annoyance and distress in his voice. Sasuke surmised that Naruto thought him to be one of his friends coming to check on him. He twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open slightly, the door creaking as he did so. He kept his head low, his dark eyes hidden from view. Naruto did not look at him at first, preoccupied with watching a show in another language on the television, his expression apathetic. Sasuke stood, most of him hidden by the door, waiting for Naruto to notice him. Eventually, the blond turned to him, and his eyes widened considerably when he saw him. Hastily, he turned off the TV and sprung up from his bed. "Sasuke…" He whispered huskily, clearly shocked, but his eyes suddenly seemed alive.

Sasuke stepped into the room and threw the door behind him, the door not quite closing. For several moments, they looked at each other silently. Naruto was mesmerizing every line and every curve of Sasuke's face. Finally, Sasuke spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse. "I thought about what you said." It was an understatement, but he hoped that it was sufficient. Naruto waited quietly, his cerulean eyes boring a hole through him. "I still haven't forgiven you…" He glanced up briefly, noting that Naruto's expression remained unchanged. "But…" he started hesitantly, "I'm willing to try."

That was more than enough. Naruto exploded into a grin, smiling more genuinely than Sasuke had ever seen him smile. To his surprise, all it took were a few indefinite words from him to make Naruto happy. Naruto's eyes glittered with vitality and it seemed as if his face was incapable of containing a smile of such radiance. He approached Sasuke, his broad grin shrinking to a pleasant, yet still ecstatic, smile. "I promise that I will never hurt you again," he pledged softly. Sasuke knew that Naruto kept his promises.

"Naruto?"

"Sasuke…"

"I'm sorry." He said it so quickly he almost blurted it out. He felt strange; he was not accustomed to saying such things. Though Naruto was bubbling contentment, he could not reciprocate his certainty. "You weren't the only one who was being a complete bastard." The words came out in a rush. "I don't know how I could've said some of the things I did."

"You don't need to apologize. I had forgiven you almost instantly after we had our fight."

"I don't understand how you could ever forgive me." He found it difficult to stop now. "I still haven't completely forgiven you, yet. I was being as unreasonable as you were. Unlike you, though, I hadn't meant everything I said. I was simply speaking out of anger, fear, and hurt-" Sasuke continued to ramble relentlessly, finding himself unable to preclude his overwhelming feelings. Naruto stopped him, though, by interrupting him in mid-sentence.

"Sasuke…just shut up." Sasuke halting talking immediately after those words escaped Naruto's lips.

His eyes narrowed dangerous, almost incredulously. "…What?" He demanded.

"Shut. Up." He said it slowly, as if it was difficult for Sasuke to understand. Naruto grimaced, but his eyes glinted oddly, contrasting against the set of his expression. Sasuke felt undeniably confused.

"Why don't you make me?" Sasuke growled viciously. He clenched his fists tightly. After everything that had just been said, he wondered what kind of mind Naruto was playing. Naruto's eyes narrowed, though they still glittered, almost dancing.

That was all he needed. Before Sasuke could even register what was happening, Naruto had closed the space between them and placed his lips on the other boy's. Sasuke stumbled backwards, surprised, but Naruto did not allow him to move. His large, tan hands traveled up Sasuke's body and entangled themselves into his raven hair. Sasuke broke the kiss briefly to gasp in a combination of surprise and pleasure, then whispered Naruto's name. Naruto smiled against Sasuke's lips and pulled him close so that their bodies molded into each other. He moved his lips slowly, sensually, almost teasingly, and nibbled gently on Sasuke's lips. Sasuke returned the kiss with fervor, his hands finding their way to Naruto and exploring his body enthusiastically. Overwhelmed by Naruto's scent, there was not a single coherent thought in Sasuke's mind.

Immersing themselves in the kiss, they had forgotten that the door was open. Neji and Sakura walked down the hallway, eating granola bars, appearing to be returning from a break in the surveillance of Naruto. (Neji insisted continuously that it was not stalking) They halted when they saw that the door to Sasuke's room was wide open. They peered inside carefully to find no one there. Simultaneously, Neji and Sakura's gazes traveled to Naruto's dorm. Quiet noises emitted from the room. Furtively, they approached the door and Sakura peered in, her face turning bright red at what she saw. Naruto and Sasuke were kissing rather intimately, and they were stumbling toward the bed. She thought about them catching her accidentally being a peeping tom and her face reddened further, if possible, a furious scarlet blush turning her pink. She turned back to Neji and he only needed to glance at her face to understand. Neji grinned broadly, uncharacteristically looking nearly mischievous. Then, he began to walk down the hall, back toward the stairs, with Sakura trailing behind him. Although all they had done was push Naruto in the right direction, the mission had been accomplished.

* * *

(A/n): There you go! Chapter eighteen. That took me like five seconds to write, oh yes! I hope it isn't any less better though…(frownie face) Oh well. They made up and made out, as promised in the title. And I'm sorry to burst your bubble, fellow pervs, but no, they are not going to have sex right there and then. That comes later. I mean seriously, they just got back together. But I know you were thinking it, don't deny it, you dirty whores! (impish grin) Haha Neji and Sakura are stalkers. I didn't really edit this chapter. I was just like blah, okay, its done (posts). I liked this chapter. Yeah. I guess. Okay. REVIEW.

I hereby end the second arc thingy of this fic! I hope I can post the rest of the fic (like, fifteen more chapters or something) by the time I turn fifteen. So yeah. I got six months. (sweatdrop) Review and I will love you forever and scream it over the mountain tops! Actually, I already luff you all. :3 I need sleep. I gots school tomorrow. Bye.


	19. Dawning

Well, what can I say other than hello, and that I'm alive? I'm very sorry that it took so long for me to update this, I can hardly believe that it has been three years. And throughout those years, I just want whoever still reads this to know that I never abandoned this story, though it may have seemed like it. I love it dearly. I hope this chapter lives up to the long wait that preceded it! I apologize for any inconsistencies in my writing style; about half of this chapter had been written back in '07, and after years I'm not surprised if it changed.

Enjoy! n.n

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I still do not own Naruto but maybe I will when Kishimoto dies.

_Warnings_: Erm nothing aside from the usual, except maybe Perverted!Kakashi, implied KakaIru, and Ominous!Itachi.

_Review dammit!  
_

* * *

**CHAPTER NINETEEN: DAWNING**

Pale gray light shined into the room, permeating through the blinds. It illuminated the room so that every aspect of it was almost glowing with the early morning light. Despite the fact that the almost eerie light was quite dull, it was considerably bright compared to the pitch darkness that had engulfed the room prior to its arrival. Even in his deep sleep Sasuke seemed to notice this, his eyebrows knitting together. In his head he commanded the light to leave him alone and allow him to sleep; he had not had such a satisfying or substantial one as this in many years. A wonderful feeling of warmth engulfed his entire body, not even one inch of his skin was neglected from the sensation. For a reason unbeknownst to him he was overwhelmed with a feeling of security and some form of happiness gathered at his core. It smelled marvelous, too, like the fresh scent of the Earth. He was still lost in sleep, though, and thanks to the light he was struggling his way out of it. He could have been lying in the middle of a meadow, for all he knew.

What he knew and what he did not know did not matter to him right now, though. Nothing mattered, because how safe and warm he currently felt was undeniable. He knew it was foolish, but everything felt so reassuring, as if everything was going to be alright; as if the omnipresent Itachi had never existed. He could have stayed like that forever and been absolutely fine with it. The pestering light, growing brighter by the minute as the sun rose, was not allowing him to remain in that state, unfortunately. Sasuke awoke, but did not open his eyes. It was then that he noticed that something soft was brushing against his cheek and something else, most likely arms, were wrapped around him. He cracked open one obsidian eye, the other soon following suit, finding that golden hair was entangled with his own raven hair, and strong, tanned arms were holding him.

His eyes widened considerably as he became fully awake and fully aware . Golden hair, tanned skin, and a fresh, earthly scent could only mean one thing. Naruto. The events of last night came rushing back to him all at once, almost in a blur. For nearly two long weeks they had ignored each other and wallowed in their own dramatic sadness. Sasuke had to admit, that time period was very close to being the worst two weeks of his life. But only close. He was quite certain that nothing could top the weeks that followed the death of his entire family. Throughout the entire time in which the two boys were angry at themselves and each other Sasuke continued on with his life as if Naruto had never existed. It was the same as before, but only worse, because this time he knew what he was missing. He knew how happy he could actually be, and how pointless his life had been before Naruto came along. He went through each and every day of those two weeks like a robot, programmed for efficiency and nothing else. Sasuke stopped himself there; he did not like to think of either of those times.

Then last night, the two had finally gotten over themselves , gotten over their own petty issues, and apologized to each other. Naruto had forgiven Sasuke so magnanimously, with nothing attached, and yet somehow Sasuke found himself unable to do that. At least, not immediately. After they had said their admissions of guilt and Naruto had so cleverly tricked Sasuke into unknowingly asking the blond to kiss him, (actually, it was a lot more than just one kiss) the two had laid together on the bed in a tangle of limbs, arms wrapped around each other, listening to the sound of the other's heartbeat. Sasuke assumed that they had fallen asleep like that. Just to make sure, Sasuke lifted the covers slightly off of himself and Naruto. The two of them were fully clothed, wearing the same things that they were last night. He was glad to find that his clothes were exactly where he had left them.

No matter how much Sasuke enjoyed the proximity between himself and Naruto, he couldn't deny the fact that it made him feel somewhat powerless and a bit too feminine for comfort (Actually, he was more than comfortable). He tried to free himself from Naruto's strong grasp and soon found himself struggling to do so. As Sasuke continued to move around, Naruto's grip on him only tightened. The blond held onto the other boy tightly, unconsciously pulling Sasuke into his chest as he slept. Naruto buried his head into Sasuke's raven hair, quietly whispering 'mine' possessively. A strange feeling filled Sasuke; it was combination of several emotions. He didn't like that Naruto called him his, as if Sasuke belonged to him and was some sort of possession. At the same time when he heard those words his heart leapt as feelings of being sought after and desired filled him. He felt absolutely pathetic, feminine, and very, very pleasant. It was strange, to say the least.

Sasuke freed himself from Naruto's grasp, finally, feeling the warmth leave him as soon as he stepped out of the bed. He walked to the center of the room, halting once he got there. He then walked over to the window and opened the blinds, letting the gray light fill the entire room. He gazed out the window for a brief moment, the sun rising in the distance and setting the eastern sky aflame with vibrant colors. He then looked away from it and turned his attention to Naruto, who was still sleeping quietly and pleasantly. He stirred a bit though, seeming to have noticed on some subconscious level that Sasuke was no longer laying beside him.

After last night….Sasuke was uncertain of where they stood now. Certainly they were on a better note than they were before, and it had been established that their feelings were mutual, so where did that leave them? He didn't know if it was correct to say that they were together, now. He had wanted it for a while now and on some level, they had been together already. That was the only way he could describe it. So, what now? Sasuke stared at the sleeping form on the bed. Was it safe to say that Naruto was now his boyfriend? He would not exactly call it that…that was too official, and besides, that term was too loose, too simple. If that's what they were now, together, than that term did not seem to fit their relationship at all. Boyfriend did not even begin to cover it…it was so much more. Sasuke supposed that it was just a matter of semantics.

But suppose that they were together now, and that Naruto was in fact Sasuke's boyfriend, what did that mean exactly? Would they have to spend every single moment together? Well, they practically did, anyway. He wondered if Naruto would expect something out of him now, or look at him somewhat differently. Sasuke knew he was getting way ahead of himself, but really, it could not be helped. He had never been in a relationship before, he had never even considered it. Hell, he hadn't even thought that being in a functional relationship with another person could even be possible for him. One could say that he was handicapped when it came to these things. Sasuke came to the conclusion that it did not matter. Naruto was well aware that Sasuke was very difficult, and had chose to be with him anyway. That was all Sasuke wanted, too. Nothing else should matter…no, nothing else did matter.

It was at this point when Naruto finally began to awake from his deep slumber. He stirred, rolling from side to side underneath the covers, reaching blindly for something in the empty spot beside him. His fingers met the cool, soft sheets and empty pillow, and it seemed that the fact that Sasuke was no longer laying beside him registered in his brain. Sasuke watched Naruto writhe around with a calm demeanor, almost apprehensively. Naruto began to open his eyes, blinking when they came in contact with the pale gray light. He blinked a few more eyes as his eyes focused and everything around him became less blurry. In the center of the room stood a mesh of color; blue and black. His cerulean eyes became used to the light as he became alert and noticed Sasuke staring back at him. Naruto threw the covers off of himself and sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at Sasuke with bright eyes. Without a second thought, he smiled a sleepy smile, so pleasant and beautiful that Sasuke could barely take it. Slowly, his smile began to fade as he caught something out of the ordinary in Sasuke's expression. It was silent as they scrutinized each other for a few moments.

Even though Naruto had just woken up, he looked like a male model. His hair was tousled, messy, sticking up in every possible direction, and pretty damn sexy. His clothes were wrinkled and there was a light dusting of blond along his jaw. His cerulean eyes were piercing and expressive, as always, and he had three whisker tattoos on each cheek. It remained quiet and Sasuke averted his gaze, looking at nothing in particular, lowering his eyes slightly. Naruto stood up and walked towards Sasuke carefully, stopping only a few inches from him, their bodies almost touching. He held Sasuke's hands loosely in his, caressing them slightly, then entwining his fingers in his. Sasuke glanced down at their hands briefly, a tingling sensation running up both of his arms. He then looked up and locked eyes with Naruto, and they remained like that for a few moments.

"_Good morning_," Naruto whispered softly, his lips brushing against Sasuke's ear. He then brushed them along Sasuke's jaw, making his way towards the other boy's lips. Once he reached his destination, he pressed his own against Sasuke's gently, smiling slightly as he did so.

* * *

The room was no longer dim and grey with the early morning light; it had become bright as the day progressed and the sun followed its path in the sky. Naruto and Sasuke still remained within the room, but they each had taken (separate) showers and had changed into fresh clothing in order to face the new day. Each of them wore a smile and carried an air of happiness with them as well. Though they had unofficially been with one another for some time now, today was the beginning of their future together. It was uncertain, just as anything else, but they weren't thinking so much about that as they were enjoying the present moment together instead. Sasuke and Naruto had returned to the bed; Sasuke sat in the space between Naruto's outstretched legs as Naruto leaned against the wall at the head of the bed with his arms wrapped around Sasuke's torso. They were making light conversation as they relaxed.

"Are you hungry?" Naruto asked Sasuke, his voice sounding gentle and almost sleepy

Sasuke chuckled lightly, leaning back into Naruto's chest a bit more. "You aren't really asking me if I'm hungry, dobe. You're telling me that you are."

Naruto pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes because though he did not like admitting it to himself, Sasuke was right. He chose to pretend that Sasuke had offended him. "Goddamn Sasuke, I was just tryin' to be nice and then you go ahead and say something bastardly like that. How like you," Naruto said as he tightened his grip on the raven-haired boy. Sasuke responded by rolling his eyes and placing his hands on top of those of Naruto.

"Let go of me," Sasuke demanded in a bored voice, but Naruto knew that he was enjoying their playful bickering. Sasuke tried to pry Naruto's hands off of him but the blonde's grip only tightened further in response as he laughed lightly and said 'no' impishly. Sasuke eventually became annoyed and tore away from Naruto's grasp, then sat on the opposite end of the bed. Naruto started laughing and Sasuke could not help but trade his sour expression for a small smile.

Naruto's laughter died down and he moved closer to where Sasuke was sitting. "Really, though," Naruto began, his eyes looking sincere and bright, "we should go out for a quick breakfast before class starts. Because I _am_ hungry. And I'm not gonna let you skip out on the most important meal of the day, 'suke."

"How thoughtful of you," Sasuke said sarcastically. He looked down at the floor for a moment, then looked back at Naruto. Naruto with his golden hair and his stunning cerulean eyes, his wide smiles and his tanned body. Sasuke's heart lurched as he was filled with a warm emotion. Honestly, he did think it was rather thoughtful of Naruto to be concerned about him. Sasuke's thoughts mimicked the ones he had earlier that morning when he had watched Naruto sleep. "You know, dobe, you keep asking me out to eat places but you haven't yet formally asked me out. How can we be together?" Sasuke said it jokingly, but there was a serious undertone to his voice that signified distress.

It did not go unnoticed by Naruto. He had spent enough time with Sasuke to know him well and detect the slight indications of emotion that he displayed. Naruto's mood became sober though he tried not to show it. He looked into Sasuke's dark eyes for a few silent moments, then he grinned widely, mercurial as always. Naruto slid even closer to Sasuke, placing his hand on top of the other boy's and his face only a few inches away from that of Sasuke. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto with suspicion.

"Aw, poor Sasuke," Naruto taunted mischievously. His voice was nearly a purr. "He wants to be asked out by Naruto."

Sasuke's cheeks tinged pink and he glared at Naruto, pushing the said boy away from him. "I didn't say that, I was just joking " He growled, but was interrupted before he could say more.

"Regardless," Naruto said as he took Sasuke's hand off his chest and moved closer to the raven-haired boy once more, despite Sasuke's resistance. He grabbed Sasuke's arms and held them so that Sasuke could not move them, and he pushed Sasuke against the bed post. Naruto's face was hovering near Sasuke's again. "You said 'how can we be together?'. Even if you were joking, I want us to be together, so I'm going to properly ask you out." Naruto was serious, but he made himself sound lighthearted.

Sasuke did not say anything; he merely looked at Naruto. His eyes displayed a mixture of emotions, but Naruto felt as if expectancy was the dominant one. Naruto regarded the handsome face in front of him and smiled.

"Sasuke," Naruto started, pretending to be dramatic. "Will you be my boyfriend?" Even though in a way they were playing around, and even though Naruto knew they were already together, somehow he was still fearful that Sasuke would deny his request.

"Yes," Sasuke said simply. Naruto grinned for a moment before pulling Sasuke towards him and closing the space between them with a kiss. The kiss was sweet and gentle, and they both were smiling a little throughout its duration. Sasuke broke the kiss, began to laugh, and Naruto followed suit. When they were finished Naruto took a few more moments to look at Sasuke. He placed one hand on Sasuke's cheek and dragged the tips of his fingers along it lightly. Naruto then pulled away, almost abruptly, allowing Sasuke enough room to sit up properly and compose himself.

"Listen, Sasuke," Naruto said, his voice somber and his eyes intense. Sasuke glanced up at him, noting the sudden drop in Naruto's mood. He watched Naruto, ready to listen, but it remained silent. Naruto seemed a bit nervous and Sasuke wondered what was running through his mind. "You know, you're much more than just a boyfriend to me, I…" Naruto trailed off. He was afraid of scaring Sasuke with his words; he didn't want to come onto him too strongly when their relationship had just begun.

Sasuke smiled and made sure that Naruto was looking at him when he did so. "I feel the same way," he stated. Naruto smiled at him in return, relieved that that feeling was not merely one-sided, and that he had not frightened Sasuke. His relief wavered, though, when he saw Sasuke hesitate. "I have to admit," Sasuke said, "I'm somewhat worried…I'm not exactly the best when it comes to these things, if you know what I mean."

"I'm well aware of that, Sasuke. I know very well who you are," Naruto explained carefully. He became dead serious, and when he spoke his voice was filled with passion. "I'm really going to try to make this work…" He looked at Sasuke with expressive eyes. "You don't know how much I…" Naruto was unable to finish once more and he looked down at his hands.

Sasuke watched him for a moment, unsure of what to do. He did not like to see Naruto like that. He stood up and walked over to where Naruto was sitting, and stood there until the blonde took notice of him. Naruto looked up with slight confusion and was met by Sasuke's calm expression. Before Naruto could collect his thoughts well enough to formulate words, Sasuke was on Naruto's lap and kissing him with ardor. Naruto did not kiss Sasuke back for a moment, due to surprise, but then he closed his eyes and he relaxed into the kiss, putting his hands onto Sasuke's body. Their lips moved against each other and Naruto returned the kiss with just as much fervor as Sasuke. As they became further engrossed in the locking of their lips, Naruto's hands gradually began to wander. Sasuke broke the kiss when he realized that and Naruto recoiled his hands from Sasuke's body.

Sasuke sat down on Naruto's lap and rested his head on Naruto's shoulder. They remained silent for a minute. "I know," Sasuke mumbled, finally responding to what Naruto had said before. "You've already told me and shown me many times."

Naruto grinned and he grabbed Sasuke gently in order to move him so that he could see his face. "I'm liking this relationship so far," Naruto said, beaming. "A lot."

"It's essentially the same as our relationship before," Sasuke stated. "The only difference is that we kiss now." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Well, we sort of kissed before anyway."

"Soon, that won't be the only difference," Naruto said with a suggestive smile.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, swatted him, then got off of his lap and stood in the center of the room with his hands in his pockets. He glanced back at Naruto, who was still sitting on the bed and rubbing the spot where Sasuke hit him while wearing a pout. Sasuke smirked at him. "Come on, dobe. Let's go get some breakfast."

* * *

Professor Hatake dismissed the class, signifying the hour's end, so the students began to rise and walk towards the back of the classroom, filing out the doors in a flood of chatter. Naruto and Sasuke rose from their seats in the back of the classroom, gathered their things, and then Sasuke began to walk towards the exit. Naruto grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could make it out the door. Sasuke turned around and looked at him with one eyebrow raised, a questioning expression on his face. "I have to talk to Professor Hatake, m'kay?" Naruto said, smiling at his new boyfriend.

Sasuke stared at him for a moment, scrutinizing the blonde's face before answering. "Alright, I'll wait for you outside," he said, returning his smile, though his was much more furtive and concealed. It was sufficient, nonetheless. Naruto grinned at him and was tempted to blow a kiss at him and jokingly say something entirely sappy and cliché, but in the large, empty room a whisper would have been quite loud, and their rather perverted professor was standing not too far away. He settled for a wave and the two parted, Sasuke walking out the door as Naruto walked down the stairs towards the bottom of the classroom. There stood Professor Hatake, his strange silver hair flopping over one eye, erasing today's lecture off of the dry erase board. He was finished with his task before Naruto reached the front of the class, then proceeded to dig through his disorderly and chaotic desk, most likely searching for his little, 'exotic' (more like erotic) books.

Naruto approached his professor's desk, somewhere in between wariness and laughter. He halted right in front of it, waiting for the silver-haired man to notice him. Professor Hatake seemed to have succeeded in his mission, since he pulled a small book out of a cluttered drawer. He then looked up, his bleak, nebulous eye staring dully at the person standing before him. When he saw Naruto, his eye formed into a cheerful half-circle and he smiled pleasantly. "Why, hello, Naruto," he acknowledged amiably.

"Er, yeah, hi, Kakashi. I mean, Professor Hatake," Naruto greeted. He never quite noticed how the silver-haired man's good nature could be somewhat disturbing, until now.

"How's life?" He inquired, turning his attention to the book in his hand.

"Pretty damn good, actually," Naruto answered. He then waited for his professor to say something in response, but it seemed that he had already gotten absorbed into his reading. Naruto sighed, figuring that he would have to say it himself. "Do you remember like, earlier this week or something when I was out for a couple days?"

"No, not really," Kakashi responded without looking up. Naruto exhaled loudly, making his annoyance conspicuous.

"Well, I was out. So I was wondering if you could, like, you know, let me to make up the work I missed or something," Naruto babbled, holding his breath after he was finished speaking. In every other class he was currently taking, his professors had unmercifully told him that he was no longer in high school, and did not allow him to make up for any of the work he had missed. He did not exactly blame them, he was only out because he was wallowing in his own pathetic sadness and getting wasted on Neji's couch, not because he had suddenly become gravely sick. (Putting those facts aside, they could have been a little nicer. Bitches) Kakashi looked up at him for a brief moment, then glanced at the door so quickly and surreptitiously that Naruto thought he had imagined it.

"Okay," he agreed, closing his book. Naruto blinked, dumfounded. That was a little unexpected. He had been ready to start begging when his professor had agreed. Kakashi took out a piece of paper and began to scrawl on it, writing down the assignments for Naruto to do. When he was finished, he handed the paper to the blond and then smiled a bit too cordially for comfort.

"Er, yeah, thanks a lot, Kakashi." Naruto took the paper, grinned foxily, and then turned around, preparing to leave, when the professor started to randomly speak.

"You know, about five years ago I had to go to one of the middle schools within the city, though I really didn't want to. I was going there for a job interview, but that wasn't my number one choice for a place to work. I was running pretty low on cash…" Kakashi continued to ramble and Naruto turned around to face him, gawking at his professor as if he was insane. This speech was spontaneous and appeared to be rather pointless, to say the least. He stood there, unsure of what to do, as Kakashi ranted. "I had a piece of paper that told me where to report to, but I guess I read it wrong, so I accidentally walked in the middle of an eighth grade classroom. Now that I think about it, I think you were there, Naruto. Sasuke was too, sitting in the back corner somewhere. All of you people were, but you seriously can't expect me to remember all of your names. You people all look the same…"

"Um, Professor Hatake, are you alr ?" Naruto started, being cut off as his professor babbled as if Naruto hadn't even said a word. He glanced back towards the door quickly, trying to think of a way of escaping his professor, who had apparently just gone crazy.

"It was there that I first saw him, he had the cutest little scar going across his nose. He kind of reminded me of a dolphin, or something." Naruto almost choked when he realized who Kakashi was talking about. He remembered that day quite clearly. It is not every day that a strange silver-haired man stumbles into your classroom by mistake and starts hitting on your also male teacher. So that was where he was going with this story. He did not see how it was relevant to anything, though. "So of course I told him that he was the most adorable thing on two legs that had a penis that I have ever seen. Then I think he called security or something, I can't exactly remember, but believe it or not that was the start of a beautiful relationship. You know, one time, after everyone went to lunch, we had sex on his desk. By the way, Naruto, do you know how to have gay sex?" He finally stopped there, cocking his head to the side slightly as he asked that question.

Naruto stared, stammered, and blushed. This was by far the strangest conversation he had ever had. (Actually, it was more like Kakashi had launched into a monologue while Naruto scanned the surrounding area for any possible escape routes) "Well, yeah," he said, and then continued. "I really don't see what this has to do with anything. People are waiting for me and I really _should_ go " Yet again, he was rudely interjected.

"Well, let me tell you another story about Iruka and myself, anyway. You're an orphan so I know you don't have any parents around to talk to you about this kind of thing. Plus, most parents don't talk to their children about this kind of thing anyway. But I consider myself to be a father figure to you. Iruka and I were in a photo booth at Disneyland…" Kakashi droned on, but Naruto drowned out everything that he was saying. He could not believe his professor was trying to give him the sex talk. At least he found out what his ramblings were about, but he did not see how they had much to do with him. Blocking out everything he could, he swiftly turned around and briskly walked towards the exit, not caring that he was insolently walking out in the middle of his professor's sentence. Once he made it to the top of the stairs and reached for the doorknob, it finally seemed to register within Kakashi's mind that he was leaving.

"Have fun with Sasuke," he said cheerily as his student walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him. Once Naruto was in the hall he stuffed the piece of paper his professor had given him into his binder and turned to the side, almost bumping into Sasuke in the process. Sasuke blinked his obsidian eyes and studied Naruto's face for a moment before speaking. "What was that all about? Did he molest you?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow, the slightest hint of a smirk present on his face.

Naruto glared at him for a moment, the blush on his face still receding. He considered wiping that smirk off of Sasuke's face by whacking him, but chose a different tactic instead. Once he regained his equanimity, a sly, foxy grin settled nicely onto his features. He slid his arm around Sasuke's waist and yanked him close, so that their bodies were touching.

"Jealous, are we?" He taunted, his breath dancing across Sasuke's ear. Sasuke stiffened and Naruto gave him a quick peck on the lips. He pulled away with a musical laugh as Sasuke glowered at him, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. He did not want to jump into things too fast and frighten Sasuke, but it was difficult for him to contain the ecstatic emotions that pulsed through him.

They turned and began to walk out of the hallway towards the courtyard, walking side-by-side. Their hands dangled close and on occasion they would lightly brush against the other in time with the sway of their strides. They flirted and bickered pleasantly, Naruto unable to wipe the delighted grin off his face, and Sasuke wearing a content expression, despite the fact that he was now walking blindly into new, unknown territory. That was alright, though, since he had Naruto to guide him. Fluidly, during one of the moments when their hands brushed as they walked, Naruto slipped his arm around Sasuke's waist, playing with the hem of Sasuke's white shirt. Sasuke's glance darted towards Naruto instantly, raising one eyebrow in question. Naruto copied his actions and lifted one eyebrow, smiling at him impishly. "What?" He asked, feigning innocence and lack of knowledge.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sasuke demanded. They were only a few more steps away from the open courtyard. He could now see Sakura and Neji in the distance, leaning against the elegant water fountain in the center of the courtyard.

"Nothing," Naruto said absent-mindedly, still playing with the fabric of Sasuke's shirt. He could feel Naruto's warm hand, barely touching his skin. "You know what, fuck them. Okay?" Naruto smiled reassuringly, and Sasuke understood what he meant. He nodded in agreement, saying nothing. He was Sasuke Uchiha, he was not supposed to give a flying fuck about anyone else anyway, save a few exceptions to the rule.

From there Naruto picked up the conversation from where he left off, talking about something having to do with sneezing and reincarnation as a tree, Sasuke adding his own two cents here and there. They walked into the bright sunlight and warm air, even though it was autumn. They walked past groups of people huddled together tightly, ranging in size. Most people did not take notice of the two of them, and if they did, they did not care. Most people assumed that they were just doing what friends did, and that was act gay towards one another (It is actually quite common; Naruto didn't know of anyone that acted completely straight, even if they were). Anyway, it was old news that the two boys were quite close. It appeared that suspicion was only aroused in a few.

They walked towards the fountain where Neji and Sakura were positioned. The two of them were in the middle of conversing about the likeliness that Kakashi was a tweaker when Neji turned his head and his attention to something else, smirking evidently. Sakura followed his gaze and turned her head to see that Naruto and Sasuke were approaching them. Naruto had one arm around Sasuke and she could tell that they had been laughing, if their expressions were not an indication. She could find no word to describe how they looked, so she settled for the term 'couple-y'. Neji stood up and waved to them, breaking her trance-like state. "Well, if it isn't Naruto….and Sasuke." Neji grinned at them, the expression looking misplaced on his usually controlled face. He was more than glad to see the two finally together and to see that everything seemed to be falling back into place. Good does come out of bad, after all.

Naruto let go of Sasuke for a brief moment to greet Neji with what was known as 'the gangsta hug.' "Hey Nej, your grin is really starting to creep me out," Naruto said and snickered, back at Sasuke's side immediately after he was done greeting his friend. Neji merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

"It's not my fault that you scare easily," he said in his usual nonchalant tone. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he growled, preparing a nasty comeback, but Neji turned away his attention away from Naruto and to the person standing next to him, instead. "And how are you today, Sasuke?" Neji asked, using his polite charm. His grin had been replaced with a small, pleasant smile, but that did not make it any less creepy. Sasuke stared at him for a moment and fought back the desire to be his impudent bastardly self.

"Just peachy," Sasuke retorted. Though it was true, he couldn't help but sound somewhat cynical as he said that. So much for subduing his rude personality. It did not seem to have any effect on Neji though, his smile remained, unwavering in its place.

"Yes, I remember how Naruto complained to me once about how your pillows smell like peaches," Neji said, somewhat randomly, still looking pleasant. Naruto and Sasuke stared at him weirdly for a few moments.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"I wasn't complaining," Naruto insisted, speaking in unison with Sasuke.

Neji seemed to have chosen to ignore them completely in favor of responding to them. Instead, he turned towards Sakura, who was still sitting on the stone of the fountain and had not said a word since the two had arrived. Neji noticed that she had a tendency to do that lately.

Sakura was looking at Naruto and Sasuke, and whether she realized it or not, she was following their every move meticulously. She could not help but stare at them with adhesive, and somewhat awed, eyes. She was unsure of what she was feeling towards them. It was some combination of jealousy, envy, happiness, and pride. Not to mention, she could not help but thinking _goddamn, that's cute. _She noticed how Naruto's hand was furtively sneaking up Sasuke's spine, and every time Sasuke would slap it away nonchalantly, though he was gaining no avail in halting Naruto's efforts, and was starting to look rather annoyed with the blond.

Briefly, her thoughts went back to when she and Naruto had been in a relationship, and she tried to recall if he had ever been quite as flirty and playful with her. She came up with nothing. Sakura couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to be in a relationship such as theirs…Sasuke really had no idea…Somehow, her thoughts skipped to last night's events, when she had peered through the door and seen the two of them kissing rather enthusiastically. She allowed her thoughts to linger there. It was then that she realized everyone was now staring at her. She had been aware that they were all having a conversation that she was not participating in, but she had not expected them to suddenly stop and turn their attention to her. She noticed that Sasuke was glaring at her and she quickly composed herself. She must have been giving them a rather strange look.

"Sakura?" Neji repeated for about the third time, waving a hand in front of the girl's face. She blinked stupidly for a few moments and then finally stopped gawking at Naruto and Sasuke. She turned to him, looking slightly confused.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just spacing out and shit. So…'sup?" She asked, trying to act casual and cool, regaining her composure. Neji smirked at her and Naruto smiled pleasantly, but Sasuke continued to almost glower at her, his eyes gleaming with something that could have been antipathy. She could understand why he would dislike her, though. Put lightly, she had been quite the psycho ass bitch. She remembered the promise she made to herself about how she would at least try to befriend him. Sakura smiled amiably at Sasuke in response to his glare.

Sasuke's eyes merely narrowed further in response.

"Well, yeah, you know," Naruto said, almost sheepishly. "And like, thanks and stuff. You were right." Naruto moved towards Sakura and wrapped his arms around her small frame, thus commencing the bear hug of death, lifting her up into the air and swinging her around as if she were a doll. Sakura struggled to get free and Neji, ever so the heroic one, decided to step in and attempt to release Sakura from Naruto's death grip. Once she had two feet back on the ground Naruto bent down and kissed her cheek. "I should listen to you more often."

"Have you completely forgotten that I was there and that I did most of the talking?" Neji asked, his tone almost sarcastic.

"Psh, you're just jealous and you know it," Naruto said with a foxy grin.

"Think whatever you want."

"I'm Neji Hyuuga and I'm a total douchebag."

"What the hell are you people talking about?" Sasuke interjected, staring at the three of them accusingly. Naruto and Neji halted their bickering, at least temporarily, and turned to look at Sasuke. Naruto tried to think of what was the correct way of phrasing what had occurred prior to their make-up (and make-out session). Neji offered no assistance whatsoever; he simply looked at Naruto and smirked.

"Uh…" Naruto started, ever so astutely.

"Let's just say that Naruto owes me and Neji here big-time," Sakura stated, smiling brightly. Sasuke just looked at her for a moment, suspicion evident in his expression, and then mumbled a curt 'whatever' before sitting down on the cold stone of the fountain and glancing away. Sakura sighed, she was finding it quite difficult to get within a five mile radius of Sasuke without her efforts being shot down and destroyed. How Naruto had gotten so close (and not to mention somewhat intimate) with him, she would never quite know, and it would never cease to amaze her. Naruto mimicked his new boyfriend and sat down beside him.

Neji and Sakura resumed their conversation about Kakashi and his resemblance to a stoner while Naruto listened pleasantly, commenting every now and then. Sasuke thought that the conversation was rather pointless, but he could see where they were getting their ideas from. Sasuke had been staring off into the crowd of undergraduates, the murmur of indistinct voices all around him, including the laughter of Naruto, when he felt something warm softly touch his hand. His obsidian eyes quickly darted to where his hand was laying on the stone and saw that a hand was cautiously laying itself onto his own. Sasuke glanced up at Naruto, but the blond didn't look at him, his cerulean eyes focused on his two other friends. He was talking to them and seemed to be quite involved in their mirthful conversation, but a sudden surreptitious smile appeared on his lips. Sasuke glanced away, his dark hair falling into his face, staring out at nothing in particular. Naruto's hand tightened over his, gripping it loosely, and the corner's of Sasuke's lips quirked up slightly. He was concentrating on the soothing warmth that was enveloping his hand when someone recognizable emerged from the distance and began to make their way towards their small group.

She was tall, her legs elongated further by tight-fitting jeans, with large periwinkle eyes and a flowing pale blonde ponytail. It took Sasuke a second to remember, but he recognized her as Ino, who was more commonly referred to in the mind of Sasuke as The Blonde Slut. A red-head, shorter than Ino, appeared beside her and he was now walking towards the four of them. Gaara. Sasuke removed his hand from under Naruto's and whacked his arm harshly. "Dobe, look."

"What?" Naruto asked, sounding slightly annoyed. His hand searched for Sasuke's and their fingertips brushed, but then Sasuke pulled his hand away and rested it on his lap. Naruto sighed and decided to let Sasuke have his way, then he figured that he might as well look and see what Sasuke was talking about. His eyes focused on the two approaching figures and his expression became somber for a moment. He hadn't spoke to either of them in some time.

Naruto stood up from his seat on the fountain and watched the two for a moment. Sasuke glanced up at him, evaluating his new boyfriend's expression. Then, abruptly, Naruto's arm shot up in the air and he waved at Gaara and Ino with enthusiasm. "Hey guys!" He exclaimed, looking jovial.

Sakura and Neji copied his actions (not with as much eagerness, though) and waved at two, acknowledging their presence. Sasuke didn't do anything but continue to sit. He still wasn't very fond of the people Naruto called his friends. Before Gaara and Ino entered proximity, Sakura leaned over and whispered in Neji's ear, "I hope that this goes alright."

"I'm pretty certain that it will," Neji responded, speaking in a normal volume. Sakura merely nodded in response and fiddled with her fingers, somewhat embarrassed since he had spoken so openly. She gazed at Ino and their eyes met; she was much closer now. She was relieved to find no malice there.

Gaara and Ino halted in front of them. It was silent for a brief moment, it seemed as if they were unsure of where to begin. "Hello Naruto," Gaara began, slightly surprising everyone. He usually was not the one to start the conversation. "You're looking much better." A slight, kind smile formed on his lips.

They all stared at the redhead for a moment, then suddenly it became much easier to speak. Naruto snorted and glared at Gaara accusingly. "Are you saying that I used to look bad? Even drunk and depressed I'm sure I still looked damn sexy. That hurts, Gaara." Naruto pouted, pretending to be affronted.

"You think that hurts?" Sakura interjected. "Gaara didn't even say hello to the rest of us!" She stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Oh, forgive me. Sakura, Neji," he said with near sarcasm, then nodded at them in acknowledgement. His eyes darted to the dark-haired figure in the background that was wearing a frown. "Sasuke," Gaara stated. Sakura turned slightly to glance at him, having forgotten that he was there. Sasuke directed his gaze towards Gaara for a second and then averted his eyes, returning to staring off to the side while looking annoyed.

Sakura looked up at Ino, who was uncharacteristically silent. Ino was standing there with her arms dangling awkwardly at her sides. She thought about saying something to her, but Neji beat her to it. "Hello Ino," he greeted, turning everyone's attention towards her.

She stared back at them for a moment and then seemed to realize that her silence must have appeared odd. "Hey!" She suddenly perked up and smiled at them brightly. "I was just spacing out, you know, blonde." She giggled and grabbed her long ponytail and waved it around, as if to prove it. Neji observed her quietly and his eyes narrowed very slightly. He knew that her sudden alacrity was false.

"Ay, watch it Ino. I'm blonde and I don't like what you're implying. And y'know, Sakura is too, under all of that pink shit she dumps on her head," Naruto said and crossed his arms, pretending to be offended. Ino would have normally laughed in response, but his words forced her to turn her attention to the said pink-haired girl. Their eyes locked, both of them radiating uneasiness.

"Hi Sakura," Ino said plainly, maintaining eye contact. Everyone else watched the two carefully in case something happened. They stared at each other for a few more seconds before Sakura broke the eye contact. She glanced over to the side, unable to retain it any longer. Sakura was uncertain of how she felt towards Ino. Though in the past week she had done a great amount of maturing, the last encounter with her former best friend remained vivid in her memory.

"I'm sorry." Sakura looked up, startled, and found Ino wearing a genuine expression of remorse. "We were both being irrational. I should've tried to be a bit more sensible, since you were being all psycho and what not, so one of us had to be the sane one." Ino said it almost jokingly, but it was evident that she was being honest. Sakura disregarded the slight offense Ino's statement raised within her and focused on the apologetic part of it.

"It's alright," Sakura said simply, sounding somewhat timid. She did not know what to say other than that. "I guess I was being a crazy bitch. I shouldn't have provoked you. Especially considering how there were more important things at hand, like Naruto's situation." She added the last part after a few moments of thinking. Sakura did not particularly enjoy admitting her faults and insulting herself, but she was very aware of the necessity for her to apologize in return rather than simply accept that of Ino.

"It's okay." Ino smiled brightly.

"I think we owe you an apology as well," Sakura said and turned to Gaara.

"Yeah," Ino agreed. "But I already said sorry to him on the ride back home from Neji's mansion that one time. At least I think I did," she mused and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Don't worry about it," Gaara said, directing his statement at Sakura. She smiled at him, relief washing over her. She had pushed everyone severely towards the limits of their patience concerning her, thus she found it a bit amazing that they were still willing to not only deal with her, but to forgive her as well. Sakura's smile widened with happiness.

"Well, I'm glad that's all over with." Neji sighed as if he was releasing all of his former exasperation. "Playing babysitter gets boring fast."

"I am so not a baby," Naruto insisted, almost in a whine. His tone suddenly changed and a devious grin formed on his face. His friends all looked at him with apprehension. "My body is much too mature to be that of a child," Naruto purred. "Ain't that right, 'suke?"

Sasuke attempted to withhold the blush that was threatening to appear on his cheeks as Neji, Sakura, Gaara, and Ino stared at him. That goddamn stupid dobe. He really hadn't wanted to get involved in their conversation, but then Naruto had to go and say something perverted like that. Sasuke successfully fought off the creeping blush and recomposed himself, then retaliated by glaring at them all harshly. He scoffed, looked away, and then proceeded to kick Naruto in the back of his leg. Naruto yelped and fell backwards, landing beside Sasuke on the fountain.

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed worriedly, taking a few steps closer to him. Gaara started snickering and Neji smiled while Ino blinked dumbly, as if she had just noticed Sasuke's presence.

"That's what you get, idiot," Sasuke said superciliously, but he smirked slightly. Naruto cradled his leg and glared daggers at his boyfriend.

"Fine!" Naruto growled, then mumbled something else under his breath. "Someone isn't getting some tonight." Sasuke whipped his head around and looked at Naruto like he was crazy. This time he couldn't prevent his cheeks from tingeing with pink. Naruto started to laugh like the idiot he was, and Sasuke responded by glowering dangerously and punching Naruto in the stomach. Naruto's laughter ceased and he clutched his stomach in pain, unable to choke out even an 'ouch'.

Sakura stared at the two weirdly. She wasn't sure if this was the way that couples were supposed to interact with one another. It was not as if Naruto and Sasuke were exactly an orthodox couple, though. Neji and Gaara were clearly amused, in contrast to Sakura's reaction. Ino giggled and brought her hands up to cover her mouth.

"So, Naruto, how does it feel to be a butt pirate?" Ino continued to giggle, entertaining herself with her own dirty thoughts. Sasuke glared at her, annoyed with all of the sexual comments that were made in the short time he had been here. Beneath his annoyance, though, there laid latent diffidence. He was not exactly comfortable with the display that was being made out of his and Naruto's relationship, especially when they were formally concatenated just this morning. Also due to that fact, Sasuke was uncomfortable with the idea itself of anything that sexual occurring between he and Naruto. He had a few brief thoughts about Naruto in that manner before they were dating, but it was much different now that their relationship was definite. Sasuke snapped out of his contemplation when he felt a warm arm slide around his shoulders that drew him closer to the source of all that warmth. Naruto had taken a seat beside him and enveloped Sasuke in a gentle embrace.

"It feels pretty damn good," Naruto said with a pleasant smile full of genuine contentedness. Though it could have, that statement didn't come out sounding inappropriate or suggestive in any sense. Naruto was radiating happiness and well-intention. All of his friends merely looked at him, regarding him with a bit of pleasant surprise. It was understandable; typically one would not expect such an answer from Naruto. Sasuke glanced at Naruto, somewhat galvanized as well, and a small smile settled nicely on his lips. All of his friends were smiling as well, even Sakura. It was difficult not to feel a trickle of happiness at the scene before them.

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke said with slight affection as he slid out of Naruto's loose hold.

"Stop telling me to shut up all the time! Goddamn, Sasuke. Especially when I say something nice," Naruto growled and glared at Sasuke, but his slight pout made him appear significantly less threatening. Sasuke scoffed with his usual arrogance and glanced at the sunny blonde dismissively, then turned his attention to someplace else. His gaze just happened to land on Gaara. Specifically, on the conspicuous tattoo that seemed to have just appeared on his forehead. Sasuke stared openly and somewhat rudely, to the point that everyone else followed his gaze and ended up gawking at Gaara. He met all of their eyes defensively and glared at them severely.

"What?" He asked, but it sounded like he was almost daring them to proceed any further. Gaara remained almost disturbingly calm even through his evident annoyance.

They all stared at him for a few moments longer before anyone could gather the courage to speak up. Even Sasuke had to admit Gaara was a little freaky (He had no idea how Gaara had ended up hanging out with these typically idiotic people). Ino was the first to speak up. "When did you get that tattoo? It's all like, in Japanese and stuff," Ino blurted unintelligently.

"Are you serious? The whole time I've been standing here no one has noticed. I guess I know how much time you guys take to really look at your friends," Gaara stated dryly.

"We're sorry!" Sakura exclaimed quickly, offering an apologetic smile. "I guess I was just too caught up in being nervous about our technical reuniting and everything."

"Maybe I noticed but I didn't say anything," Neji said casually.

"Bullshit," Naruto said and rolled his eyes at Neji.

"I'm serious," Ino commented, a slight whine to her voice. "What does it mean?"

"It's kanji for love," Sasuke said, his annoyance palpable in his voice. Everyone turned to look at him and he stared at them with narrowed eyes for a moment before turning his head slightly to the side, closing his eyes, and scoffing. He found it detestable how none of them were properly educated in their heritage. They soon grew disinterested with him and turned their attention back to Gaara. Neji had an eyebrow arched up in amusement, while Sakura, Ino, and Naruto just gawked at him with confusion.

"So what?" Gaara inquired dangerously.

Ino extended her arm forward quickly, then proceeded to blatantly point at Gaara and laugh like a hyena. "Aw! How cute. Gaara just wants some lovin'," she cooed, still giggling incessantly. Gaara glowered at her, putting on a frightening face, but it did not seem to phase Ino. "You so had to be wasted," she taunted. Gaara stared her down, but his intimidating gaze wavered slightly, because that was the truth behind it.

"I have to admit, I would never have expected you to get a tattoo like that," Neji said, then started to chuckle lightly. "Especially on your forehead."

"Now everyone won't pay attention to your big ass forehead as much, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed mischievously, and then tossed in one of his foxy grins. Sakura's face turned bright pink with embarrassment and she glared at Naruto. He feigned innocence and blinked his startling cerulean eyes at her as if he was saying 'What? Little ol' me?' Naruto put his arm around Sasuke and drew him close once more, but he was actually just using him as a human shield. Sasuke sighed quietly and gently rested his head on Naruto's shoulder.

_ Idiots._

* * *

The utter silence was not something Naruto was accustomed to. It has its advantages, such as disallowing distraction, but he did not like how the gentle shuffle of his papers against one another seemed to create such a loud noise. Naruto sat on the floor of his dorm with papers surrounding him that laid on the floor carelessly. They reflected the attitude he sometimes still wished to have towards school, not unlike the days before he met Sasuke. He stared down at his paper, focusing, trying to keep his thoughts from scattering about. It was easier for him now to control his wandering mind, though Naruto was beginning to have a lapse in his control. He remembered how he had not been nearly as studious before he met Sasuke; he had not been a lot of things. Naruto smiled warmly and continued to look down at his paper, but he was not looking at what was there. His pen stopped moving and he leaned against the desk that was behind him, lifting his chin up slightly so that he was now gazing at the ceiling with that same content expression.

Naruto wondered what path he would have taken, or what person he would have become if he had not met Sasuke. More than likely, he would not have matured and evolved enough to become another person at all. When he thought back to his former life, which is what it very well may have been, he found it empty, and he found his former self lacking as well. In many ways he knew that he retained much of his personality, such as his characteristic grins and his tendency to joke, whine, and act unintelligently. Naruto still was not the smartest guy around and he never expected to be, but that was not the point. All of those things he used to do and continues to do, at that time in the past they were all that there essentially was to him. There was no need to go farther than just scratching the surface. Of course, like any human, he held deeper emotions within himself, but that did not make Naruto's former self seem any less callow and superficial to himself. What was there to his life other than trivial concerns such as partying?

He didn't like to think about the past too much, he did not know how he could have been satisfied with such a life. The idea of his former self embarrassed him to an extent. Naruto got a much different feeling when he thought about the present, though. Unadulterated happiness filled him, especially when he thought of Sasuke. Even though he sat in solitude in his room, Naruto knew Sasuke was not so far away, and that gave him comfort. He could just imagine the raven-haired boy sitting in his room, studying or doing something equally boring and Sasuke-like. Naruto's smile grew wider as he let his pen drop onto the floor and his binders and papers fall off of his lap with the decision that he was too far gone within his own mind to return to doing his make-up work. He snickered to himself a bit when he thought of how Sasuke would get angry at him for doing such a thing. This was his first chance today to be alone, thus his first chance to properly revel in the fact that he and Sasuke were now together. Naruto smiled again; he could hardly believe it, but he knew that it was reality because he could never forget the previous night.

He remained like that for a while, having forgotten about his earthly responsibilities as his mind wandered somewhere beyond the walls that restricted him. When his thoughts touched on Sasuke, which they often did, he would feel as if a blanket of sunlight had been tossed around his body in an warm embrace. He thought about his friends as well, and how their friendship had advanced and became something much more tangible. As the time passed Naruto began to slip out of his reverie and he was reminded of his existence. He glanced at the materials that surrounded him, grabbed the remote control after a moment, changed positions on the floor so that he was facing the television, and turned it on. Despite the fact that he decided that his studies were currently on postpone, Naruto would have felt bad if he immediately switched to a mindless occupation, so in an attempt to watch something somewhat intelligent, he put on the news. He gazed at the screen inattentively for several minutes before he heard something that caught his attention. "Itachi."

Naruto's eyes widened and he suddenly became alert. He stopped leaning against his bed and sat up straight, almost leaning forward towards the television. His cerulean eyes were intent and apprehensive as they watched. Naruto felt his heart rate increase slightly and his muscles tighten as memories resurfaced. Once more he was watching Sasuke as he talked about his past and once more he was crossing paths with Itachi within a restaurant. Lost in his concerns about the relationship between Sasuke and himself, he had forgotten that Itachi was still lurking in the background.

"Behind me is the location of the most recent sighting of the escaped convict, Itachi Uchiha. Last night, around seven in the evening, the dangerous criminal was reported to have dined at this local Italian restaurant, Mama Lucia's, and then proceed to walk out without paying the bill. The minor crime is not significant in itself, but in the blow it has delivered to the Konoha police force. Due to Uchiha's recent disappearance from the surveillance of the police, he was thought to have left the city permanently, but this is evidently not the case. His reappearance has placed the city on the alert once more. It is unknown how he escaped from the high-security prison in which he was contained, but he is believed to have ties to the criminal organization, Akatsuki. He was imprisoned thirteen years ago for the brutal murder of his entire family…"

The reporter continued to speak, launching into a recap of Itachi's criminal history. Naruto stared at the screen, so still that he seemed almost frozen, but it was not due to fear. His cerulean eyes were vigilant and fierce. This time, Naruto did not turn off the television. He listened to every word as if he was mesmerizing it.

* * *

(A/n): I realize that in the time that this story has been on hiatus, it has been revealed in the series that Itachi is not in fact evil. For the sake of not having to rewrite the entire story, which was planned out in '06, when Itachi was still very evil, let's pretend that he still is, shall we? :3

As always, I'd love some feedback. I'd like to say that I'm going to try to update this more quickly, and I am, but at the same time I ain't making any promises haha.


	20. The Silence Before the Storm

I'm so very proud of myself for updating without taking horrendously long. It was just a month. Which is still kind of long, but meh. :p I was slightly disappointed that I did not receive reviews from many of my former faithful reviewers, but I suppose it's to be expected after such a long absence. I know that the title is cliché, but I'm a story writer, not a title writer. Haha. Anyway, enjoy chapter twenty! n.n

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto. But Gaara's forehead tattoo makes me lol.

_Warnings_: Contains: disturbing nightmares/images, bountiful underage drinking, drunk driving, creepy descriptions of Lee, slight one-sided NaruSaku, NejiTen, cursing, mentions of gay butt sex, and actions that could very well lead to gay butt sex and the rating of my story going up.

_I put reviews in my pipe and I smoke them._

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**CHAPTER TWENTY: THE SILENCE BEFORE THE STORM**

With the absence of light, that which defines color and allows sight, all converts into a ravenous abyss. Sasuke's room was no exception. The overwhelming darkness of the room seemed to swallow and devour all objects within it until everything became unrecognizable in the prodigious obscurity. The blinds were shut tightly, and the scanty amount of light from the illuminated city streets that managed to pass through them were stymied by the curtains. It was not only dark due to the lack of light; the anguish radiating from the sleeping body within the room contributed significantly to its atmosphere. Whatever light, whatever glimmer of hope, that somehow achieved its journey into the room was immediately annihilated by the negative energy. Sasuke laid in the bed, writhing under the sheets as he dreamt. Evidently, though, this was no simple dream. He sweated as his nightmare only became increasingly vivid and disturbing.

The night had not begun like this, though. It was a typical day in the new life of Sasuke, which starred Naruto as his significant other. It was a day that he enjoyed. When he had initially fallen asleep, he had slept soundly. No tormenting images that he could not free himself from had displayed themselves within his mind. At first, there were no dreams; there was nothing but comforting blackness. Then pictures began to paint themselves, drawing inspiration from his subconscious. Sasuke saw various images of Naruto, and flashes of color. That had all been pleasant, yet things of a congenial nature never seemed to dwell around Sasuke for long.

_He heard laughter. He found himself drawn towards it. It was musical and alluring, the latter being mostly because it was carefree in a sense that was reminiscent of a child. Sasuke knew not where he was, but he knew that he had not laughed like that since he was a child himself. He was trying to regain that part of himself lately, and he was gradually succeeding with the help of Naruto. He heard the laugh again, clearer this time. It became apparent that the voice was too mature to be that of a child. Sasuke recognized it as Naruto's laughter. Suddenly he was no longer a consciousness hovering in nothingness; his body took form and the ground sprung up from beneath his feet. Lush grass coated the ground._

_The laugh sounded once more. Sasuke looked up, noticing that he was standing in a fantastical field. He saw Naruto standing in the same open expanse, a considerable distance away from Sasuke. Naruto faced away from him. Sasuke began to walk towards Naruto without questioning his presence within this place. As he walked the setting changed, it seemed to do so every few steps that Sasuke took. He looked around himself, observing his surroundings as they pulsated from one place to the next. They consisted of various locations, some of which he had been to only once or never at all, some of which were rather familiar, such as the college campus or Ichiraku Ramen. Once he got within relative proximity to Naruto, the scenery changed for what seemed to be the final time. Sasuke found himself standing by the lake in the Uchiha Grounds._

_Naruto was standing at the edge of the dock, looking down into the water. Everything teemed with stillness. Not even a ripple in the lake dared to make itself known. The immobility of Naruto was nearly disturbing, yet his surroundings simultaneously reflected an air of tranquility. Sasuke opened his mouth to call out to Naruto, but it remained silent. His lips moved but his vocal cords would not vibrate. He halted trying to speak and his dark eyes widened slightly. Naruto stepped down from the dock and onto the water as if he was weightless. He was reproduced in the water, but in a manner that was highly unnatural. It seemed as if there was no separation between himself and his reflection. Rather than being an echo it was more like an extension of himself. They were connected at the feet, and the Naruto in the water was as tangible as the one walking across it. Sasuke watched, slightly surprised, taking a few steps forward. He looked into the water ahead of Naruto and noticed something dark lurking there. The dark mass manifested into a man, with long, dark hair and a menacing demeanor. The man stood upside down and beneath the water, as if the only aspect of himself that existed was his reflection. There was nothing but empty space above him. Naruto continued to walk towards this man, looking straight ahead and through him as if he was not present._

_Sasuke began to panic slightly as Naruto approached the man. He stood his ground for a moment, tense, before he could move. Immediately after Sasuke took his first few strides in order to chase Naruto, the setting shifted abruptly. He was running towards fire. Sasuke ceased moving even though the heat of the flames surged over his body and engulfed him like a wave. He felt like he was drowning in the blaze. The buildings around him were disintegrating but they were not yet completely unrecognizable. Sasuke was still in the Uchiha Grounds. An agonizing scream pierced through the air and snapped Sasuke out of his daze. His heart rate increased exponentially and his eyes bulged as he heard the scream, which continued incessantly and which remained as tormenting. Never before had he heard something so full of suffering; it was utterly horrible. He needed to find Naruto. In his heart he knew that Naruto was the emitter of the screams, yet he still held a futile hope that that was not actuality. Sasuke did not need to go far in order to find him. Naruto was consumed in the inferno, burning alive._

_Without another thought Sasuke ran towards Naruto, plunging himself into the flames. No longer did he feel the heat nor did it burn his skin. They were not as kind to Naruto; they burned his skin mercilessly until it peeled off, revealing the red flesh beneath it. Sasuke stopped in front of Naruto, looking at him with horror. For the first time, he was able to see Naruto's face. He was no longer screaming, as if his nerves had exploded with the tremendous pain and had allowed his body to go numb. Naruto looked at Sasuke, and though his form was ravaged, his eyes remained bright and azure, alight with agony and another emotion that Sasuke could not identify. Sasuke extended his arm out slowly, incredulously, towards Naruto. Before his fingertips could brush against Naruto's skin, the said boy began to melt away. Sasuke did nothing at first but stare at him in shock, his eyes locked with those of Naruto. They seemed to accuse him. Then, Naruto's eyes started to liquefy with the rest of his body and Sasuke frantically tried to reach out to touch him, but the remnants of Naruto merely slipped through his fingers. He stared at his shaking hands with horror._

_Immersed in his terror, Sasuke did not detect the presence of the ominous man from earlier. The dark-haired man emerged from the flames and stood behind Sasuke, looming over him. Sasuke continued to look at his hands, but when he discerned that someone was behind him he raised his glance and stared ahead. Slowly, apprehensively, he turned to face the man. Calmly, he glanced down at Sasuke with red eyes from his colossal height. Sasuke felt miniscule and powerless, yet he was filled with rage. He was unable to do anything but yell, finding that his voice had returned._

"_You killed him! You killed Naruto!" Sasuke screamed fiercely, over and over. The man continued to regard him coolly, almost with disinterest. Sasuke glared at him furiously, then looked down at himself. His legs were short and his hands were small. Time reversed and he was eight once more._

_When Sasuke looked up, the man began to fade away. His blood red eyes engraved their image into little Sasuke's mind. As he disappeared, he chanted hauntingly. "Hate me, hate me." The words filled Sasuke's mind and overwhelmed it; he could see nothing but those words and think nothing but them. The flames encroached upon him and surrounded him. The burn of the fire crawled beneath his skin and flooded his veins. He screamed._

Sasuke's eyes were wide open, as if there had been no transition between slumber and waking. The hellish scene that was before him had seemed to have abruptly changed into the wooden bottom of the bunk-bed above him. Sasuke jerked forward violently with the shock of awakening. Feeling as if he was still being suffocated by the smoke, Sasuke labored to breathe. His shirt was drenched in sweat and it stuck to his skin uncomfortably. He tried to calm himself down; he knew that he was safe within his dorm though it was difficult to see in the pitch darkness. He knew it was nothing more than a nightmare. Sasuke remained sitting up for some time, until his breathing became less erratic. After removing the sheets from his body, he sat over the edge of the bed and cradled his throbbing head in his hands. He could feel the pulsing of his heart beat through his head; it felt like it was about to burst. His eyes burned due to the images he had seen and he kept them closed, even though his eyelids and the black space around him wore the same guise.

Once the throbbing had diminished, Sasuke removed his hands from his face. He reached into the darkness, feeling for his night table. His fingers made contact with a solid object and he moved it so that the display of his digital alarm clock was no longer face down. The room brightened with the red glow of his clock. It read three in the morning. Sasuke exhaled and then peeled off his shirt, having decided that he would shower to rid of the sweat that coated his body. Showering after his nightmares was routine. He stood up precariously, grabbing onto the small ladder that led to the top bunk for support. As soon as he steadied himself and stopped seeing stars, he dragged himself to the bathroom. The lights hurt his eyes when he flicked them on. There was hardly a thought within his mind as he twisted the knob that turned on the water. He set the temperature to freezing, as usual. Sasuke stripped down and stared at his reflection in the mirror. All color was drained from his skin, leaving him translucent, and his face looked horrible, though it was not nearly as horrible as the way it looked after Naruto had made him cry that time over a month ago. Sasuke averted his gaze from the mirror and stepped into the shower.

He stood still and let the water drench him. His raven hair turned a shade darker as it became soaked and it stuck close to his skin. Sasuke bowed his head, regarding the water as it spiraled down the drain. The air surrounding him mimicked his stillness. Silence engulfed the room; it was the only sound to be heard, other than the soft, rhythmic tapping of the water droplets against the base of the shower. The city streets which overflowed with vitality during the day were now dead. It reminded him of the initial silence of his dream, which remained fresh in his mind.

Sasuke looked away from the floor and lifted his head so that the water was directly hitting his face. It was so chilling that it burned him like the fire in his nightmare. Never before had he dreamt of such things; every time it had been the same reoccurring dream of the moment his clan perished, with slight variations. Sasuke wondered what such disturbing images could possibly mean. Deep within himself, he had a feeling of what it could signify, but that feeling did not transform into coherent thoughts. He kept it buried and hidden.

While Sasuke contemplated on the significance of his dream, the emotions he endured throughout his dream returned to him. They overwhelmed him and surged over him like a wave, submerging him until he was drowning in the anguish, weakness, anger, and guilt. They resurfaced with such vehemence that he felt as if he was reliving his nightmare with his eyes open. He was surprised that the dream had affected him so profoundly, not even those dreams of massacre left this much of an impact. The separate nightmares had one thing in common, though; they contained the same villain. Anger dominated Sasuke's other emotions as he envisioned that man. He clenched his fists and his body went from being still to stiff. His blood boiled and his anger grew as he imagined that man in his dream, the one whose face looked so much like his own, standing by as Naruto burned.

_Naruto_.

He did not want to see that horrid sight once more, the one that felt so palpable, as if Sasuke had witnessed it in reality. When he thought about Naruto, his anger somehow seemed to increase, yet diminish. His emotions mixed until everything became one large contradiction. His anger grew because he wanted to kill that man for what he had done to Naruto in his dream; it lessened because he was reminded of the ardent feelings he had towards Naruto. Sasuke lifted one of his tightened fists and the muscles in his arms tensed as if he was going slam it against the wall. He hesitated for a moment, then relaxed his entire body, allowing his fist to drop and make contact with the wall gently. He unfurled his fingers and stood like that for a moment before taking a step towards the wall and resting his forehead against it. Briefly, Sasuke closed his eyes, then looked down at the drain once more. The water drained from the shower and all of his anger drained from his body.

Sasuke resolved that he was not going to allow that dream to come to fruition. He could not lose Naruto, especially not after he had a taste of what it felt like. He had to remember that his life no longer involved solely himself. There were two different paths that he had to chose from, or learn to balance. The decision of which one to follow became much simpler when he visualized the smiling face of Naruto. The corners of Sasuke's lips curled up in a small smile.

He removed himself from the wall and concluded that it was about time that he actually got to the sanitizing part of the shower. Quickly, he washed his hair and scrubbed his body until he felt cleansed. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, ignoring the coldness of his skin, then took another look at himself in the mirror. His reflection stared back at him, looking better and almost content, though his obsidian eyes were somewhat troubled. Sasuke exited the bathroom and turned off the light, disappearing into the darkness. He sat in a chair, laid his arms across the arm rests, leaned back, and closed his eyes.

* * *

Sakura drove down the street that ran along the city's restaurant row and simultaneously scanned the parking lane for open spaces. As soon as she laid her emerald eyes on one she parallel parked her car in the spot so quickly that it was almost reckless. In an urban area such as Konoha City, it was difficult to find parking and she was not about to allow anyone to take her space. Sakura exited the car and then dug through her large purse for change to put in the parking meter. Once she found some, she put enough in it to last two hours, for safety's sake. When she finished, she looked up and noticed that a passer-by was gawking at her rather openly. Sakura figured that it must have been the overload of pink; her pink corvette, her pink hair, and her pink skirt that protruded from beneath her coat. Being used to such attention, she ignored the onlooker and turned around to glance at her magenta car.

She thought of how this car did not always belong solely to herself. The days in which she had shared it with Ino were not such a long time ago. It had been so much fun for Sakura. They used to be inseparable, which is why they decided that sharing a car would be manageable in the first place. Slowly but surely, they were rekindling their old friendship. They were not yet at the point where they were conjoined once more, but Sakura felt no need for such dependence anymore. Now, she was strong enough to fare well on her own. That was not to say that she wanted to be alone, though. Sakura reminisced upon various enjoyable times with Ino, such as driving around in their car, listening to Ino's heinous hip-hop music. She turned around, observed the restaurant before her, and smiled softly.

Sakura clutched her purse somewhat tightly as she walked into the restaurant, trying to contain the growing excitement within her. Though it had been a few weeks since the former best friends had forgiven one another, this would be the first time that they would spend time together without their other friends present. Her excitement bordered on nervousness; it was not characterized by anxiety, but rather by a fluttering, titillating feeling. Once Sakura had entered the restaurant, a hostess approached her, dressed completely in black.

"Welcome to Il Pontormo," the woman greeted politely, wearing a smile that seemed too amiable to be genuine. "How many?" She asked, though the pink-haired girl was clearly alone. It was merely protocol.

"Table for two, please," Sakura stated courteously, then added with a pleasant expression, "I'm expecting a friend. Her last name is Yamanaka." Her eyes gleamed as she relayed the information to the hostess.

"I'll direct her towards your table when she arrives," she responded as she led Sakura to a booth. It rested against the prodigious windows that served as the front walls of the restaurant and provided a view of the bustling city streets. Sakura sidled into the booth and sat down, placing her purse beside herself. She smiled at the hostess half-heartedly as she placed a menu on the table before taking her leave. Sakura turned her attention towards the glass that separated her from the outside world.

She watched the countless people, their faces entering her mind for an instant before becoming forgotten for eternity. It was almost as if they did not exist; they were merely faceless figures in the background, there to provide a sense that there was something more to this world, but not to take part in her life. They moved and flowed together, meshing into a colorful river until one person became the next. None of them were distinctive, they all murmured the same trivial things and held the same, simplistic, selfish thoughts. They flooded the entire world, so engrossed in their own lives and perspective without taking the time to muse on the lives of a different people across the globe, or even that of those around them. To them, Sakura was nothing but a stranger, someone without a face or a personality that they caught a glimpse of through the glass. Briefly, they shared a moment in each other's lives, yet Sakura would still remain nothing but an emerald-eyed mannequin perched behind a window. To them, her problems did not matter, and she realized that the same applied to her. It was humbling.

Sakura continued to watch the strangers, somewhat pensively, when she noticed an expensive, silver car park in front of the restaurant. Her meditative attitude began to fade as her excitement returned. She was unaware of how much time had passed, a waitress had even placed water on the table without Sakura taking notice of it. Sitting alone and contemplating the world had not helped ward off loneliness. She looked away from the window, not wanting to seem too excited about seeing Ino, and directed her attention to the interior of the bistro. An unsettling middle-aged business man that sat by himself was giving Sakura the eye rather conspicuously. Sakura looked away from him, fairly creeped out, and suddenly remembered a frightening occurrence from several months ago. She had bumped into an ominous, dark-haired man outside of a bar and she had spoken to him insolently. Unbeknownst to her, he had beaten those within the bar. A murderous intent had glinted in his eyes as he regarded her. Sakura became uncomfortable now that the memory was no longer buried.

Her gaze had been burning a hole through the table when she sensed someone's presence. Sakura glanced up, so quickly that her apprehensive mood was evident. She stared at a light blue, cashmere, turtleneck sweater for a few moments, still coming out of her reverie, before lifting her head further to stare at the person's face. Ino stared at her weirdly and then started laughing. The laugh comforted Sakura, making her previous feelings fade away. She giggled self-consciously, somewhat embarrassed that Ino's sudden appearance had startled her so. She had been expecting her, after all.

"Aw did big, bad Ino scare you?" The blonde girl taunted in a childish voice. She giggled at her own joke, threw her bag into the empty side of the booth, and plopped down into the velvet seat. Ino always carried an air of vivaciousness with her wherever she went, and it influenced Sakura.

"As if," she snorted, putting on an arrogant face. "The only way you could ever scare anyone is by showing them what your face looks like without make-up on." Sakura tried to uphold her false supercilious attitude, but a stifled giggle managed to find its way to the surface. She was ecstatic that they were able to insult each other playfully as they did before. It was different when they were with the group, since everyone teased one another anyway, and that prevented Ino and Sakura from interacting more directly.

Ino rolled her eyes and made a face at Sakura, which consisted of sticking out her tongue and pulling down her bottom eyelid. "I can think of other ways to scare people," Ino said with a smirk and a wiggle of her eyebrows, undoubtedly thinking perverted thoughts.

Sakura looked at her friend warily for a few moments, and the two began to laugh. A waiter appeared by their table, noticing them because of their loud laughter in the somewhat hushed restaurant. "What would you two like to drink?" He asked politely, yet assertively enough to interrupt their laughing.

"I'll have a dry martini," Ino said, smiling prettily at the waiter. He stared at her blankly, almost looking unsure, then scribbled on his note pad. He turned to face Sakura and she waited for him to repeat the question in some form, but he did nothing but stare at her. She slowly shook her head and she waited for him to walk away before restarting their conversation.

"Ino, you pig. It's hardly past noon and you're already drinking," Sakura mock-scolded her friend.

"Hey man, my drink isn't even here yet," Ino pointed out defensively. She crossed her arms and pouted for a minute before her face lit up; it seemed as if she had devised a comeback. "And it's not like you're one to talk!" She accused, her voice nearly a whine. "Don't think I forgot those times where I had to drag my ass all over town looking for you when you'd run off to a bar in the middle of the day."

"Yeah? Well…" Sakura started, unable to come up with a clever response. She flushed slightly, not willing to openly admit that Ino was right. "Whatever," she finally said with a dismissive tone. Ino grinned and clapped her hands together with a giggle, celebrating her triumph over Sakura. Their old rivalry would always remain between them to some extent.

The waiter returned with Ino's drink, placed it on the table without saying a word, then proceeded to disappear into another part of the restaurant. Ino daintily picked up the glass, wrapping her long fingers around it, and took a sip. She made sure Sakura was looking at her as she did so, wearing a smug expression. Ino downed the drink, then ordered another. Sakura sighed, looking at her friend with a combination of annoyance and affection.

"You know, Ino," Sakura said, beginning somewhat timidly. Ino looked at her curiously and blinked her large periwinkle eyes. Sakura lifted her gaze to meet Ino's and she regained her confidence from what she saw there. "I'm really glad that we could meet today," she said with a cordial smile.

Ino was somewhat surprised at Sakura's sudden sincerity, but nonetheless she smiled in return. Her smile was less reserved than that of her friend; it was wide and it efficiently expressed her enthusiasm. "I feel the same way," she said. She and Sakura looked at one another for a few moments more, still smiling. Then, Ino let out a short laugh and her eyes formed into gleeful half-circles. "Let's get something to eat already, I'm starving," Ino said, her voice somewhat raucous and unrefined. She reached for the menu as she spoke, and Sakura did the same.

They flipped through the selection absent-mindedly, Ino making little comments to herself about the food that they served and sipping her alcoholic drink all the while. Though she had been in a pleasant mood to begin with, Sakura found herself growing more delighted. The simplicity and normality of the activity contrasted nicely with the still recent dramatic events. She felt a need to express the wonderful feeling.

"I'm happy that everything is finally over," Sakura stated as she continued to inattentively look through the menu. "The problems between you and me, and everyone, that all happened because I used to have a problem with the whole Naruto and Sasuke thing. I'm tired of all the stuff concerning them." As Sakura admitted that, there was a hint of weariness in her voice. It quickly passed, though, and she looked up at Ino with a smile.

Ino halted her idle turning of pages and directed her gaze towards Sakura. At first she wore no expression, but Sakura became wary when a large grin erupted on Ino's face. "I'm not tired of imagining them going at it," Ino giggled hysterically, a blush tingeing her cheeks. Sakura had to resist the urge to slap her friend. She wondered if Ino ever tired of being perverted, because she certainly grew tired of it sometimes.

"Ino Yamanaka…" Sakura mumbled warningly. Ino just laughed in response. The pink-haired girl blushed a bit at the thought of Naruto and Sasuke having sex. She was not entirely sure how sex between the two would work. The waiter came and went, taking their orders as he did so, and when he left Sakura's thoughts remained in the same place. After letting her mind linger there a bit longer, she decided not to think about it anymore, yet it was harder than she had anticipated. Sakura found it strange how the intimate moments she and Naruto had formerly shared would now be something that he shared with Sasuke. Her face became red as she continued to contemplate it, and eventually Ino stopped chugging her drinks and noticed that Sakura was turning into a tomato.

"Are you okay?" Ino asked, staring at her very pink friend oddly.

"Oh, yeah," Sakura said quickly, attempting to compose herself. She was aware of how red her face must have been, since she knew that she had a tendency to blush rather profusely. She tried to think of an explanation as to why her face had gotten so red without outright lying. "I was just thinking about how I haven't gotten any in a while," she blurted. Collecting herself seemed to be a lost effort after she had uttered those words. Embarrassed, her face became as pink as her hair. In an attempt to comfort herself, she thought of how her statement was truthful, at the very least.

Ino stared at her for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Normally she would be tempted to say something perverted, but for some reason it did not seem appropriate for the sudden change in mood. Following Sakura's confession, the atmosphere had become filled with sincerity that demanded a serious response. Ino slowly brought the glass to her pink lips and sipped it, looking at Sakura as she did so. She placed her drink onto the table without shifting her gaze.

"Well, I had sort of guessed that, since for the past few months you had kind of been schizo," Ino said, trying to find the right balance in her tone of voice. She did not want to sound too sober, yet simultaneously she knew that if she spoke with her typical cheer, she would only embarrass Sakura further. Her intuition told her that there was something more than mere discomfiture to Sakura's feelings. "No offense," she continued, "but you would've scared anyone that was interested away." Ino laughed, though not too inconsiderately. "How long has it been?"

Sakura blushed, although her face was not nearly as crimson as it had previously been. She looked at Ino, seeming to be somewhat offended by her comment, regardless of its truth. Her blush receded further and she sighed before speaking. "August," Sakura admitted. It was now mid-December.

Ino blinked, somewhat taken aback. She had not anticipated it being such a long time. A realization dawned to her and she sensed that she had discovered the source of the underlying feelings. "Wait. Weren't you still dating Naruto, then?" Ino asked, sounding dumb despite her efforts against it.

"Yeah, I was," Sakura said. No longer was there a hint of embarrassment in her expression. It had been replaced by a mixture of emotions such as slight anger, nostalgia, and some sadness. She had been looking down, but she lifted her head so that she could look at Ino. "We hadn't had sex during the last month of our relationship. Naruto had just been too disconnected from me." She hesitated for a moment before resuming her speech. "I'm sorry that I never talked to you about it. About all of it."

"It's alright," Ino said with a genuine smile, but she allowed some cheer to be conveyed through her voice. Sakura returned the smile, looking somewhat uncertain. "How do you feel about him?" Ino asked. The volume of her voice had dropped with her slight increase in seriousness, due to the sensitivity of the subject. Nonetheless, she still shied away from making her words sound grave.

Sakura wrapped her hand around her cold glass of water and she took a long sip before speaking. She needed the time to think of what to say, or more so, how to say it. It was not as if she had not thought about that before; it was just that every time she did think on it, she found it difficult to sort out her feelings. She placed the glass back onto the table and sighed once more. Her emerald eyes met the periwinkle ones of Ino.

"Well, I know how I don't feel about him, at the very least. I'm not angry with him anymore. I guess I've forgiven him for what he had done to me, but I also realize that everything was not his fault. We understand each other more, now, and we're friends again. I care about him, of course. It's almost as if through losing him I have learned to value him. When we were together, I don't think I truly appreciated what I had, despite how long we had been together. We were both different people than we are now. We thought we were in love, but we weren't. Loving someone is different than being in love with them." Sakura averted her gaze from Ino's eyes. Ino remained silent, knowing that there was more to come. Sakura had not yet fully answered her question. "So, now…" She slowly began, choosing her words carefully. "I love him. I'm not in love with him, though I do miss him sometimes, but I do love him more sincerely than I did when we were together. It's somewhere in between there. All I know is that I'd like for him to be happy." Sakura finished her monologue and looked back at Ino. The pink-haired girl smiled at her, relieved that she had finally spoken about her feelings concerning him, and content that she was able to share something so personal with Ino.

At first, Ino had been unsure of how to respond to such a long speech. Though Sakura had looked at Ino throughout the majority of it, it seemed as if she had been speaking mostly to herself. The solemnity that had lingered in the air prior to Sakura's words had dissipated and a shared feeling of closeness between the two girls had replaced it. Ino and Sakura took a few moments to look at each other with warm smiles.

"Well, I'm glad that you've got that all sorted out," Ino said amiably. She did not have much to say in response other than that, there was not much that anyone could say. She could only be happy that her friend had finally gathered herself. "You know, Sakura," Ino started, her eyes sparkling brightly. "Maybe it's about time you started playing the field again, you know what I'm saying?" She giggled lightly and pleasantly. "You're gorgeous, and it's just so mean of you to make yourself unavailable to so many guys."

Sakura could not help but laugh at that and she could not help but feel flattered as well. Perhaps she had spent too much time sulking and raging over Naruto when she could have been looking for a new person in her life that would give her happiness. It seemed like a good idea, but it somewhat conflicted with Sakura's emotions. "I don't know if I'm ready for that yet," Sakura admitted.

"I'm not talking about anything serious, of course," Ino said with a short giggle and a swig of her drink. Sakura eyed the alcoholic beverage, wondering how much would become too much. "I'm just saying that maybe you should consider it. Look around, y'know, check out some hot guys." Ino wiggled her eyebrows and grinned.

"I can't think of anyone I'd be interested in," Sakura said. She was speaking honestly, yet at the same time she was trying to deter Ino. Slight apprehension filled her at the thought of stepping out of her comfort zone. For the past few months, only a few people had been a part of her life.

Ino tapped her chin thoughtfully, then jumped in her seat with excitement when she seemed to have come up with something. Sakura looked startled as Ino's arm extended outwards and nearly knocked over her drink. "I know! Lee!" Ino exclaimed it as if she was brilliant. "He, like, worships you."

"Ew, Ino!" Sakura screeched, making a face in disgust. She could never retain her sweet and kind image for long; her inner bitch would always surface at some point. Ino laughed loudly in response to her friend's reaction. "Have you seen his eyebrows? They're like, so creepy and bushy! And his hair cut is just horrible, it's seriously like someone put a bowl on his head, and his creepy bug eyes and his green clothing…" Sakura trailed off and shivered at the thought of it. She was reminded of the brief argument that she and Ino had in which Lee was mentioned. Thankfully, Ino said nothing concerning that, seeming to understand that Sakura was mostly jesting.

"If you guys had babies they would be so ugly," Ino said randomly, her laughter bordering on hysterical. Their waiter glanced at her from across the restaurant, annoyed at the disruption that she was causing. Sakura cringed and she decided that she should change the subject before Ino said anything worse.

"What about you? Is there anyone that you're interested in?" Sakura asked conversationally. Ino halted her laughter and she exchanged the large grin on her face for a contemplative expression.

"I think Gaara is cute," Ino admitted with a giggle. It was not as if everyone had not already known that, considering the rate at which she pestered him. "But he's too short for me," she added, "And I prefer random hook-ups, anyway." Ino had stated that casually, much like she would say anything else. Though everyone was accustomed to that type of behavior concerning Ino, Sakura believed that that did not make it acceptable. She worried about her friend's drinking and promiscuity; through the many years of their friendship, she could not ever recall Ino having a romantic relationship. The others dismissed her wild behavior, since it was so abundant in young females of today's society, but Sakura knew that Ino held more complicated emotions than those that she displayed.

"Ino, I don't know why you do that to yourself," Sakura said, concern evident in her voice.

Now it was Ino's turn to avert her gaze. She sighed, clearly not wanting to speak about this. "Even I'm not too sure, Sakura." Ino gazed at her drink, her expression bordering on solemn for a brief second, before it brightened once more and she took an enthusiastic gulp of her drink. She made a noise of satisfaction and placed her glass back down with a smile. "Don't worry about it, alright? I just like to have some fun!"

Sakura remained unconvinced, but Ino was evidently making an effort to brush the subject aside. She hesitated for a moment, caught in between dropping the topic as Ino wished and delineating her thoughts. Before she could make a decision, the waiter returned with their meal. Sakura and Ino picked up their utensils and they began to eat. The moment for Sakura to speak had been lost. A comfortable silence engulfed them for a few minutes as they enjoyed their meal together. Simultaneously, they looked at each other and smiled ardently.

"I love your huge forehead," Ino said impishly.

* * *

As the sun descended towards the horizon, the temperature dropped significantly. It gradually became colder, the nebulous, looming clouds assisting the sky in its transition to darkness. A chill fell upon the city and it pervaded the bodies of the people walking the streets. It touched their core and their bones, reminding them of their life, as well as their mortality. The cold, though, was unable to permeate the walls of the buildings. Removed from the rest of the world, the wintriness did not reach Naruto and Sasuke. Together, they remained within Naruto's dorm, studying for upcoming exams; the blond lay with his stomach to the floor while the brunet sat. The comfortable warmth of the room contributed to the atmosphere of tranquility and contentment. The sound of turning pages was the only noise that disrupted the silence of the room.

Naruto and Sasuke studied intently, not distracted by the presence of each other. It was not as if they did not notice the other, though. They found solace in each other's company. If Naruto unfocused his eyes from the book before him, he could see Sasuke in his peripheral vision. If Sasuke extended his arm slightly, he could reach out and touch Naruto. They preferred to be together as much as possible, though they never spoke much of it. It was a silent agreement between the two, to spend time together whenever they could. They would meet in the mornings after they had awaken; they would meet after classes, walk to their dorms, and enjoy the rest of the day together. Sometimes they would spend the night together, though Sasuke was still not entirely comfortable with that. Most of the worries that he initially held considering their relationship had faded, but one still remained. When he and Naruto lay close, beneath the sheets and in the darkness, his stomach would swirl with a strange mixture of emotions.

He stared at the papers in his hands blankly, realizing that he had been lost in thought for some time, rather than studying. He continued to look at them as the thought of glancing at Naruto crossed his mind. Carefully, Sasuke shifted his gaze to the side, moving only his eyes and not his head. He peered at Naruto through the raven hair that obstructed his view. His golden hair fell into his eyes and hid their startling color from Sasuke. For a brief moment, he longed to see those cerulean eyes, but he halted the thought before it could transform into action. He watched as Naruto shifted slightly, the toned muscles of his back moving visibly beneath his shirt. Sasuke averted his gaze and looked down at his papers.

Sasuke found it difficult to become engrossed in his studies once more. He read the words on the page but they did not register in his brain; they merely remained a combination of letters without meaning. No longer was he inattentive of Naruto's presence. There were no definite thoughts within his mind, yet he felt as if something incomprehensible was there. He could perceive Naruto's bright aura, and suddenly, he could sense those blue eyes on him as well. Sasuke did not look away from his papers. Naruto's gaze relented, but every so often, he would look up at Sasuke.

Eventually, Sasuke could not take the looks any longer. He met Naruto's eyes with his own, his gaze suspicious and harsh. He looked at him as if saying 'Do your work, dobe,' with annoyance palpable in his voice. Conversely, Naruto looked at Sasuke with eyes that were teeming with vitality and glinting with mischievousness. The corners of his lips curled upwards in a small, inviting smile. Sasuke stared at him, unsure of what kind of expression he wore on his face because of the uncertainty of what he felt. He had realized that Naruto was looking at him with bedroom eyes. That look made his heart skip a beat, his stomach churn, and his thoughts halt; it made him want to punch Naruto for being an idiot, for being able to affect him like this with a mere look, and it made him want Naruto all the same. Choosing to ignore him, Sasuke stared at Naruto with what he hoped was indifference before looking away.

Naruto would not look away. His stare bore deep into Sasuke. Due to focusing on disregarding his boyfriend, Sasuke had been reading the same word for about a minute, and he had been on the same page for quite some time. He became aware of this and narrowed his eyes. So much for studying. Sasuke truly had a desire to spend the evening studying, but he should have known that Naruto's mind would wander once he became bored. Naruto's behavior irked him, as well as the fact that he could still feel Naruto's ardent stare on him. It was difficult not to imagine those eyes and his will began to waver. Sasuke wondered what thoughts passed through Naruto's mind, and more specifically, if he was within those thoughts.

Sasuke could no longer ignore Naruto's fervent gaze. Instead of succumbing, which he knew Naruto wanted him to do, he turned towards him and returned the stare. His look was not suggestive or impish like that of Naruto; it was forceful, challenging, and unrelenting. Naruto looked at Sasuke for a moment, his eyes narrowing, his gaze becoming more intense. Abruptly, he sat up, pushed his work aside, and lunged forward.

Sasuke leaned backwards slightly, his arms outstretched for support, surprised by Naruto's sudden movements and apprehensive that Naruto would land on him. Despite the speed with which he had moved, Naruto was able to quickly halt in front of Sasuke, his lips hovering in proximity to those of Sasuke. Naruto kneeled with Sasuke's legs in between his, one hand on the floor, and the other resting on Sasuke's cheek. He stared directly into Sasuke's obsidian eyes, his own eyes flickering with passion. Sasuke returned his gaze, hardly noticing the hand on his face, and a feeling that was unidentifiable to him rolled through his body. He opened his mouth slightly, wanting to speak despite his tangled thoughts, but Naruto pressed his lips against his before he could do so.

Their lips moved softly, the kiss beginning slowly. Naruto's hand traveled from Sasuke's cheek to his chest, his fingers lightly dancing across Sasuke's skin, and he gently pushed Sasuke down so that he was lying on the floor. Naruto pressed his body against Sasuke's, entangling one hand in his raven hair as the other explored his body. Sasuke placed his hands on Naruto's back, gripping his shirt tightly. The kiss became more urgent as Sasuke's lips demanded more from Naruto. He parted them slightly, allowing Naruto's tongue entrance.

The intensity and passion of the kiss continued to increase as the kiss persisted. Naruto and Sasuke's breathing became heavier, pants and slight moans emitting from both boys. Naruto's hands slipped beneath Sasuke's shirt and he ran his fingers over every inch of skin he could reach, playing with certain areas more than others. Naruto sucked lightly on Sasuke's bottom lip before pulling away for a moment, and Sasuke exhaled shakily. He wondered where all of his resistance had gone as he melted at Naruto's touch. His body felt pleasure at all of the things that Naruto did and it wanted more, yet a stubborn part of him disliked the fact that he was being dominated. Sasuke's mind went blank as Naruto pushed up Sasuke's shirt to reveal his pale skin and he covered it with kisses and licks. His hands dug into Naruto's hair and he moaned, an internal battle waging in his mind. He did not want to submit, but his body would not stop saying otherwise.

Naruto drew his lips away from Sasuke's skin so that he could regard the boy beneath him. _He is so beautiful. _He looked at Sasuke's expression, his face flushed and his lips slightly apart, and his heart fluttered and his body wanted more of Sasuke. It was difficult to restrain himself; his hormones were running wild and his strong feelings for Sasuke encouraged his hormones to do whatever they wished. Naruto just wanted to demonstrate how much he loved him. He had yet to say those three words aloud, and whenever the urge to say them arose, things would always turn out like this. At the same time, he feared frightening Sasuke by moving too quickly, though they had been together for a few weeks now. Naruto ran his hand from Sasuke's chest to his stomach, tracing his belly button with his finger when he reached his destination. Briefly, he hesitated, then he began to play with the trail of hair that led underneath Sasuke's pants.

Suddenly, Sasuke snapped out of his daze and he flipped Naruto over so that he was over him. Nervousness and slight panic flickered across his face, then he kissed Naruto, uncertain of what to do. Naruto remained surprised for a moment, but he quickly relaxed into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Sasuke. He found it thrilling to be on the bottom for once, but his mind whispered to him that it was because he had made Sasuke uncomfortable.

They kissed like that for some time, hands wandering, the passion gradually building. Naruto became frustrated with the restrictions of being on bottom, so he flipped over Sasuke without breaking their kiss. Sasuke did not take well to being dominated once he had finally attained control, so he flipped Naruto over forcefully. They began to fight for supremacy, rolling across the floor as they did so, carelessly crumpling the papers from which they had previously been studying. All throughout their struggle, they continued to lock lips aggressively. After some time, Naruto slammed Sasuke onto the ground, having had enough of their game. He bit Sasuke's bottom lip somewhat harshly and he received an irritated grunt in response.

When he heard that, Naruto smiled against Sasuke's lips, his annoyance abruptly dissipating. Gently, he placed his hands in Sasuke's hair, and kissed him sweetly. Slowly, he pulled away from the other boy, removing his hands from his hair and using them to support himself instead. Naruto did not move other than that; their bodies remained close, still itching with residual desire despite the change in mood. He watched Sasuke as his eyes fluttered open. Naruto's heart skipped a beat and his stomach churned; Sasuke's expression resembled the one that he wore after the kiss that had preceded their substantial argument. For a moment, he was flung into the past as memories of that event overwhelmed his mind.

Sasuke's eyes became focused and he looked at Naruto. He reached up, lightly touching his fingers to Naruto's cheek, brushing them against his whisker tattoos. Naruto glanced at Sasuke's hand, his eyes no longer glazed over, coming back from wherever he had been. Last night's dream entered Sasuke's mind; he imagined Naruto melting and slipping through the fingers that were touching his face. The emotions concomitant to the dream returned and his heart swelled with them. A single thought ran through his mind as he regarded Naruto; _I don't want to lose him._

"Hey, Naruto…" Sasuke started, his voice low and reserved. He wanted to tell Naruto that, but he was unsure of how. It was difficult for him to overcome his reticent nature. Naruto inspected Sasuke's face, sensing that something was wrong. He tried to hide the frown that was threatening to appear.

"Sasuke.." Naruto said softly. He looked at him with care evident in his eyes.

Sasuke froze at the sight of those eyes, suddenly changing his mind. He no longer wanted to delineate his feelings; he found himself unable to do that. Any words concerning the subject seemed to be stuck in his throat, regardless of the fact that his every thought centered around it. He did not want to lose Naruto. He could not lose him. His parents' image entered his mind. Sasuke swallowed hard before speaking. "Have you heard anything about Itachi lately?"

Naruto hesitated. He had not been expecting that question, nor was he willing to admit that he had heard about his brother. It had been weeks ago and there had not been any news concerning Itachi since then. Naruto was torn; he did not want to lie to Sasuke, but he wanted to protect him. He knew that he could not erase Sasuke's past, no matter how much happiness he offered him, yet that did not rid of his desire to make Sasuke forget, at least momentarily, about his haunting childhood. Naruto wanted Sasuke to focus on their relationship. He looked at Sasuke, realizing the extent of his fragility. Beneath his veneer of strength lay weakness.

"I haven't heard anything," Naruto lied. He rolled off of Sasuke and they both sat up. For a moment, they sat beside each other in silence. Naruto was not looking at Sasuke.

"We should get back to studying," Sasuke said, observing the mess of papers around himself. He looked at Naruto, awaiting a response.

"Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about that," Naruto said, his voice sounding more animated. He chuckled lightly and turned to look at Sasuke, who was now gathering papers. "I'm sorry, I just can't resist you." Naruto said it jokingly, instead of saying it somewhat seductively as he normally would have. He smiled warmly at Sasuke and began to help him collect the papers.

Sasuke scoffed in response, but nonetheless his lips formed into a small smile. All of the papers had been gathered, though most of them were slightly wrinkled at the least, and Sasuke began to try to return to studying. He attempted to straighten out the page which he was currently reading and he frowned in disapproval of the results of their careless actions. Naruto watched Sasuke as he did that, smiling to himself. He swore to himself that he would protect Sasuke.

Naruto placed his hand over Sasuke's and he entwined their fingers. Sasuke looked up from his work, glanced at their hands, and then his gaze shifted to Naruto's smiling face. "Let's go on a date," he said softly, ardor laced into his words. "A real one."

Sasuke smiled at him; his smile was small, as always, but somehow this one radiated the happiness of a much larger smile. He tightened his hold on Naruto's fingers and looked into his cerulean eyes. "Alright," he said simply, yet it was more than enough,

"It's getting kind of late," Naruto said, his eyes still locked with those of Sasuke. "We had gotten pretty…sidetracked. I know that your room is just a short walk away, but maybe you could still stay the night anyway," Naruto suggested. There was not a hint of anything but chasteness in his voice.

Sasuke merely nodded in response. They continued to look at each other for a few moments. Both could see the love evident in the other's eyes, though neither would say it. Both wanted to be able to vocalize their feelings, but it did not seem necessary; they could feel what was left unsaid. Though Sasuke's dream had been disturbing, it no longer disturbed him. No matter what everything consisted of, everything became alright. At the same moment, they looked down and continued to study, but they did not let go of each other's hands.

* * *

Neji stood in front of the prodigious windows of which most of the walls in his foyer were composed. They nearly stretched to the high ceiling, allowing him to see for miles into the mountains and into the endless sky. During the day, the sunlight would illuminate the room, dying it different colors as the day progressed and it went from dawn to dusk. The sun had set early today; the shortest day of the year was quickly approaching. His section of the world had been plunged into darkness for a few hours now, though that did not keep him away from the windows. He enjoyed looking out of the windows, regarding his surroundings with his omniscient white eyes. Regardless of the situation, it always provided him with some solace. He looked at the dark mountains that were barely visible in the distance, a glass of wine in hand.

Neji remained there for some time; he did not know, nor did he care, how much time had passed. His home was engulfed in silence, though he found it peaceful rather than unsettling. The antique analog clock ticked incessantly. He spent most of his time before the windows gazing, though on occasion he would slowly take a sip of his drink. Pensiveness was evident in his demeanor and in his eyes; even the manner in which he sipped his wine indicated contemplation.

He was satisfied with what he had done to assist his friends, and not to mention, a former friend. Though it was not as if Neji had been pulling all of the strings, he felt somewhat responsible for the way that everything had turned out. For a long time, he had been doing everything in his power to help Naruto and Sasuke's relationship, to protect it from Sakura, to help all of his friends, and now, he could relax. Neji smiled so slightly that it was barely visible, but his normally mysterious eyes gave away his happiness.

As he took another sip of his drink, he saw the headlights of a car. He placed his glass of wine on a nearby table within arm's reach and he watched the car with interest as it stopped in front of the massive steps of the Hyuuga Mansion. Briefly, he wondered who it could be, though only a select few were allowed through the gates without the guards notifying an important member of the clan. Neji walked to the center of the foyer, waiting for the knock on his colossal doors that was sure to come. Once he heard the noise that he had been expecting, he sauntered over to the door and opened it. A rush of cold air flooded the room.

"Tenten," Neji acknowledged, though due to his pleasant surprise it almost sounded like a question. He stepped to the side so that he could let her in through the crevice between the door and the wall. Tenten quickly sidled through it and Neji closed the door before more cold air could enter. Then, he turned around to face her. His expression remained mostly unchanged, except for the slight cocking of his eyebrow.

"Goddamn Neji, I don't know what's with you rich people and your unnecessary amount of steps. I didn't come here to exercise!" Tenten said with a laugh. "And they just prolonged the amount of time I spent freezing my ass off out there." She smiled with good humor. Neji scoffed and could not help but smile in response.

"Hello, Tenten. Thank you so much for properly greeting me," Neji said. Despite the polite orientation of his words, they were spoken with slight sarcasm. She laughed openly in response, then her lips formed into a toothy smile.

"Oops. My bad," Tenten said, unabashed. "Good day, Mr. Hyuuga." She mocked the way in which stereotypical, pretentious, and wealthy people spoke. Tenten extended her arm for a hand shake and Neji did the same, taking her hand in his own. Once they had finished shaking hands, Tenten observed her spacious surroundings. "I'm surprised that a butler didn't open the door for me," she said, with her same pleasant tone, evidently joking. Neji was about to express his surprise in seeing her, but for some reason he decided against it.

"They tend to leave me alone. Believe it or not, I can take care of myself," Neji said with a small smile. Tenten laughed again, radiating amiability. Everything about her was genuine and free, and Neji liked that. She did not directly respond to his statement, but her laughs and her expression were enough. Neji could perceive what they were saying. _I don't doubt that, but everybody needs somebody to take care of them._

"Listen," she started, "I'm sorry for not calling ahead of time. I hope I'm not being rude." She laughed again, this time somewhat self-consciously.

"It's fine," Neji said, his voice smooth and convincing. It really was fine with him. In reality, appearing on someone's doorstep unannounced at this hour was rude. There was more to it than the mere actions, though, such as the nature of the visit and the person visiting. "May I take your coat?" Neji requested.

"Yeah, sure," Tenten said. She scrambled to take off her long, beige overcoat, revealing her simple clothing once she succeeded in doing so. She handed it over to Neji, nearly dumping it into his arms. As he placed her coat on the coat hanger, Tenten continued to look around. The emptiness of the mansion was somewhat eerie to her, and it remained that way no matter how many times she went there, since she lived in a small, yet cozy one-bedroom apartment. Her gaze stopped once it reached the wine glass that rested on the table. "Oh come on, Neji, wine? Really? You're such a snob," Tenten teased.

"Would you like some?" Neji asked plainly, ignoring her comment to a certain extent.

"Who am I to deny free alcohol?" She stated with a grin.

Neji returned the smile before disappearing into the kitchen to obtain the said alcohol. While he did that, Tenten decided to make herself comfortable, so she sat on the black, leather couch. She heard him shuffling around in the kitchen as she waited for him to return. Neji exited the kitchen, holding a bottle of expensive red wine and a clean glass. He grabbed his own glass, which was still nearly full, from the table on which he had placed it. After he had set down the items, he sat beside Tenten, poured her a glass, and gently handed it to her. She smiled at him, for many reasons; because he was always a gentleman, because she was slightly embarrassed at the way that he was treating her, and perhaps most importantly, because she liked alcohol.

"So, is there a reason for this unexpected visit?" Neji asked Tenten, regarding her as she took a gulp of her wine. His creamy eyes were somewhat intimidating, though she knew that he usually did not intend for them to look that way. Beneath the daunting look that filled his eyes, she saw kindness.

"Actually, there is," Tenten said with humor in her voice. Just then, she noticed how her voice echoed, though it did not perturb her much. Perhaps it was because she was not alone. "How did everything go with Naruto and Sasuke and everyone? I know it's been weeks since all of that happened, but I'm usually pretty busy, and I never see you guys at school. I thought about calling but I'd rather talk in person. Though you and Naruto are my friends, I never get to talk to you guys much," Tenten mused, ending her short ramble.

"We should change that," Neji said with a pleasant smile. "I'm happy to say that Naruto and Sasuke have solved their problems. They've been officially together without any issues for a few weeks now, other than their usual bickering, of course. Sakura has come to her senses. She's friends with Naruto and Ino once more. And Gaara….well, he got a tattoo on his forehead." He said the last part as if it explained everything.

Tenten gawked at him for a moment, then snorted. "What?" She asked through her laughter, sounding incredulous. Her cheeks turned slightly pink as she laughed. She attempted to drink more of her wine, but she found herself unable to do so, fearing that it would squirt out her nose if she did. Neji chuckled at Gaara's forehead tattoo and at Tenten's giggles.

"I know, it's odd. I don't completely understand his actions myself," he said.

"I'm not even going to try to understand," Tenten said. "But I'm glad that everything turned out okay. It would have been a shame if they hadn't gotten together, they just make the cutest couple." She smiled brightly, her cheeks still tinged pink.

"I suppose so," Neji said, though he did not sound convinced.

"Cheers?" Tenten proposed, raising her glass. Neji chuckled, almost rolling his eyes, and clinked glasses with her. It echoed through the deserted halls of the mansion, as their voices did. They brought their glasses to their lips, drinking until they were empty. Neji lifted the bottle and filled their glasses.

The hands on the ancient, analog clock gradually moved as time passed. Outside, the moon steadily rose in the sky, visible through the large windows. Their pleasant conversation filled the empty house, making it seem less vacant, and more like a home. For a while, they talked, laughed, and drank to their heart's content. Tenten had lost track of the time, which is why she was surprised when she glanced at the clock.

"I should get going. It's getting late, and I should leave before I get drunk," Tenten said with a laugh as she placed her glass on the table. Neji nodded in agreement and they stood up from their seats on the couch. Tenten felt somewhat dizzy, coming to the realization that she may have drank a bit too much, though she was only slightly intoxicated.

"I could take you home, if you'd like," Neji offered. Considering the amount of wine that she had consumed, he deduced that she must be slightly drunk, at the least, though it did not show much.

"Nah, it's alright," Tenten insisted. "I live pretty close by, anyway."

She walked away from the couches and over to the door, Neji quickly following suit. He took her overcoat off of the coat hanger and held it for her as she slipped into it. She glanced back at him as she did so, smiling warmly. Once she had her coat on, Neji opened the door for her and she stepped into the space between the warm interior of the mansion and the cold outdoors. A gust of wind blew and Tenten shivered at its sting. Neji and Tenten looked at each other; they knew that it was the moment in which they should say farewell, though neither of them wanted to do that.

"Would you like to go out to dinner sometime?" Neji asked.

"How could I say no to that?" Tenten smiled softly. They exchanged looks for another moment, then she turned around and left.

_Everything was just perfect._

_

* * *

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(A/n): Okay, so things weren't really that silence-before-the-stormy. At least I don't think they were. Originally I had intended for everything to come out all perfect, but that just isn't realistic, and my story has a mind of its own. Thus, Sasuke's nightmare was very disturbing, Ino and Sakura had moments of slight sadness and inner turmoil, and there is a slight lack of communication between Naruto and Sasuke. At least the last scene turned out all nice. I like Tenten, she's awesome. For the record, this is about as far as I'm going to elaborate on side pairings. They aren't important to the plot, and I hadn't planned for any originally but they kind of just happened. :o I'm going to sleep now, it's 2 am and I stayed up late to finish this chapter. Cause I love you all! :3


	21. A New Year

Hey guys! A few things before we begin, ehem. This chapter can be seen as a filler, which it is, in a way, but it also begins to establish Naruto and Sasuke's sexual relationship, so it has a purpose! For this reason, the rating of my story has gone up. It's about time, with all the cursing and drinking and whatnot. Personally, I don't think that anything that isn't straight-up porn deserves to be M-rated, but I'm sure that the FFn people don't agree with me. This chapter is also so long its retarded, but I probably get a chance to even begin the next chapter for a while because I'm busy with school/college related things.

Also, I was very disappointed with the feedback from last chapter, considering that this story is on hundreds of favorites and alerts lists. If no one reviews, I won't update, because I lack inspiration and motivation in that case.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything because I have relinquished all of my possessions in order to reach enlightenment. Not really.

_Warnings:_ slight SakuLee hints, NaruSaku reminders, cursing, sexuality, public indecency, underage drinking, very slight mention of drugs, mistreatment of animals (?), slight onesided GaaNaru?

_Review plz. Chu. _:3

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**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: A NEW YEAR**

The few stories of the outdoor mall rose at their sides as they walked through the wide opening between the stone walls. Their shoes clacked somewhat loudly against the cobblestone path that acted as the floor of building. The air was cold and crisp, announcing the official arrival of a new season. When combined with the wreaths and strands of tinsel that swathed the gas lampposts and every corner of the structure, the air suddenly became less biting and more festive. A prodigious tree with eternally green leaves stood proud and tall at the center of the complex. It wore a glittering, golden crown in a shape that represented the resplendent objects that were scattered across the night sky. With impressive strength, the tree not only supported the large, decorative glass balls but carried them with elegance as well. Many people crowded around it with their children, who stared up in wonder at the testimony to the magnificence of nature. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino walked past the tree, all but Sasuke looking at it with delight. As a matter of a fact, he hardly glanced at it at all.

Thick, gray clouds loomed overhead, effectively blocking out the sun with the assistance of fog from the sea, thus increasing the drop in temperature. Everyone dressed warmly, perhaps even too warmly for the weather, because though it was cold indeed, it was well above freezing. Due to the near constant sunshine and ideal climate of the coastal Californian city, many of its citizens had a tendency to overreact to the slightest hint of cold. Naruto wore his favorite black and orange jacket, unzipped despite the weather, and Sasuke had chosen to wear a slightly worn, brown, leather jacket, oddly dressing more fashionably than his typical black and blue combination of clothing. Sakura was clad in the black overcoat that she had been wearing quite frequently and Ino hid in the faux fur that lined the hood of her white jacket, her long, blond hair flowing loosely in order to provide warmth.

They formed a horizontal line as they walked; Sasuke was on the far right, closest to the stores, with Naruto to his left, followed by Ino and Sakura. Sasuke attempted to remain as far from Sakura as possible in the current circumstances. Though the cotton-candy haired bitch, as he had so kindly dubbed her, and Naruto had reignited their former friendship, it certainly did not mean that he had suddenly grown fond of her, or least of all that he had grown to despise her any less. Sasuke scoffed quietly, his breath visible and cloud-like. Naruto had convinced, or more accurately, had forced Sasuke to grudgingly accept the girls' invitation to the mall. He wanted Sasuke to get along with his friends, but he realized that, perhaps, that would be asking too much, so he was willing to settle with Sasuke being able to stand their presence.

Classes had recently halted, separating one semester from the other, giving the students a month long winter break in between. A mixture of emotions washed over Naruto as he thought about that; excitement surged through his veins at the freedom the break offered, relief enveloped him at the lack of schoolwork, and simultaneous awe and jubilance filled him at the realization that he was halfway done with his first year of college. Naruto had done very well on all of his final exams, despite the distraction that Sasuke presented while studying. They had helped his grades, but not more than his performance early in the semester had hurt them. He recalled the moment that he had become aware of Sasuke's existence in Professor Hatake's class, at the very start of the semester when he had still been seventeen. Naruto had to admit that he would miss that amiable pervert, who had unknowingly (Actually, he was not entirely sure about that) assisted Naruto and Sasuke's emergent relationship. He would miss sitting beside Sasuke in that class.

Somewhat surprisingly, the four had a legitimate reason to be at the mall, rather than mindlessly shopping and meandering. With the holidays approaching quickly, a necessity formed by culture and tradition to buy presents for their friends had arisen. Sasuke had no desire to conform to the ravenous shopping and Santa Claus loving involved with the season. He felt strangely about having someone with whom to spend the holidays for the first time in a decade. Solitude had long replaced his family's company. He stole a quick glance at Naruto, whose head was turned away from him as he spoke to the girls, yet whose body remained slightly angled in his direction.

Though they were there to buy gifts for all of their friends, their primary focus was buying them for Gaara. Gaara's elder brother, Kankuro, had returned to Konoha City from his obscure art college in another part of the state for his winter holiday. The brilliant idea to host a party that would concurrently celebrate the new year and Gaara's upcoming birthday had formulated within his mind. Kankuro would not have minded if the entire student population attended the party, but Gaara was the one who ultimately decided who would attend. Sasuke doubted that Gaara had any genuine desire to befriend him, so he concluded that he was only invited because he was, in a way, concomitant to Naruto. He had only accepted the invitation because he did not like the idea of the dobe becoming ridiculously intoxicated without anyone there to properly baby-sit him, despite the fact that he despised social gatherings and Naruto's excessive drinking. A voice in the back of Sasuke's mind that would have normally been silenced squeaked meekly that he had also accepted because he did not want to be without Naruto when the new year dawned. Normally, he would not have cared much, but he felt like there was something symbolic about having Naruto at his side at that moment.

The sensation of fingers brushing against his own snapped Sasuke out of his daze. He had been gazing vacantly at the stores as they passed them, disregarding Naruto and the girls' conversation, but now his head turned sharply to look at the hand dangling close to his own. Sasuke openly stared at their hands, since Naruto was still facing away from him. They had silently agreed to refrain from acting as if they were a couple in public, though it was not as if Sasuke was significantly affectionate in the first place. When Sasuke had been 'Satari', he could have easily touched Naruto if he had wished. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke cared much about what society thought of their relationship, but it was simpler to avoid problem.

Naruto continued to lightly touch Sasuke's hands and Sasuke gently moved his fingers against Naruto's in response. Finally, Naruto turned to face him, and he smiled at him warmly. Anyone else would have overlooked the slight change in Sasuke's expression. His lips became less taut, though they hardly had been so to begin with, as the muscles in his face relaxed; his hard, apathetic stare softened and his eyes became slightly less narrowed. For a brief moment, Naruto's hand ghosted over Sasuke's as if he was about to grasp it entirely and entwine their fingers, but then Ino noticed their actions.

"Aw, that's so cute!" Ino shouted loudly, drawing attention to the two of them. Due to his surprise, Naruto squeezed Sasuke's hand into a death grip and involuntarily jumped as she yelled in his ear. Ino peered over his shoulder in order to attain a better view while Sakura turned to look at them with curiosity. Sasuke ignored the uncomfortable grip on his hand and glared at who he liked to call the blonde slut.

"I want to hold someone's hand too!" Ino exclaimed with a slight pout. Suddenly, her head whipped around and she gazed at the pink-haired girl beside her intently. "Sakura!" Before the said girl could question anything, Ino snatched her hand roughly and began to swing their linked hands back and forth with joy. An old couple looked at Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino in disgust as they passed by. As soon as they had passed, Ino burst into laughter while Sakura looked mortified and Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances.

"Ino, you crazy bitch!" Sakura screeched, her face reddening. She ripped her hand from Ino's before the blonde made her skip down the cobblestone path with her or something similar. Sakura halted and so did Ino; Naruto and Sasuke had walked ahead for a moment before they noticed that the girls had stopped.

"Oh, come on, Sakura," Ino scoffed. "You care too much about what people think. I mean, I thought you didn't, since you went out with Lee in public last night and everything. And I gotta say, that takes some not caring about what people think," she mocked, laughing openly at her friend's expense. Sakura sputtered and tried to say something in her defense, but she only succeeded in deepening her blush. Naruto merely stared at her dumbly and Sasuke stared at her rudely. Based off Sasuke's experiences involving Ino, Sakura, and Tenten, Naruto would not be surprised if he seemed to think that all females were as insane as his female friends.

"You…You weren't supposed to tell anyone!" That was the only thing that Sakura managed to say. She tried to comfort herself with the fact that she had, at the very least, resisted the urge to deny the accusations. She glanced between Ino's devious grin and the blatant stares of Naruto and Sasuke.

"Pfft. You and Naruto are friends now, so you should get used to telling him things, and it's not like he's going to get _jealous_," Ino said with a roll of her eyes. Sasuke could not help but become bothered at that comment. He did not know whether to glare at Ino for having said it or at Sakura for her former relationship with Naruto. "And it's not like Sasuke cares, anyway," she added.

"You went out on a date with _Lee_?" Naruto asked incredulously, much like he had when Tenten had told him that the said boy was her date to Tsunade's party.

"It wasn't a date!" Sakura insisted. "We were just hanging out. I thought I'd give hanging out with people outside of my usual circle of friends a try," she said defensively, as if she felt the need to explain her actions. Naruto felt somewhat guilty for teasing her, but it was nothing that she did not deserve. Besides, it was too much fun to give her shit.

"It was my suggestion," Ino said proudly. In reality, she had essentially told Sakura to release her sexual frustration upon someone, not make new friends, but Ino thought that they were similar enough.

"Where did you guys go to hang out?" Naruto asked inquisitively. Though he doubted that there was actually anything mutual between Sakura and Lee due to her concern with the aesthetic and superficiality, her extreme reaction made him somewhat suspicious. Even though Sasuke had initially been slightly interested in the conversation, (Lee and the cotton-candy haired bitch? _Really_?) the little interest that he had dissipated quickly. He remained at Naruto's side and looked away with indifference.

"Well, um, Lee and I got some snow cones and then he took me for a ride around his neighborhood and we looked at the Christmas lights," Sakura mumbled, knowing very well that it sounded like a date. "It was pretty shabby. It was nothing compared to where I live, but it was still, you know, all right." She tried to make the event less by portraying herself as unimpressed and dissatisfied with it. Her blush had mostly faded, now only tingeing her cheeks a light pink. None of them believed her aloof act. Both Ino and Naruto knew that the fact that she had not been completely merciless when describing their outing indicated that she had enjoyed it.

Naruto stared at her for a moment before smiling at her. Sakura flushed, though she no longer felt as embarrassed as she had earlier. "It sounds like it went well," he said, smiling brightly.

"Uh, er, yeah," Sakura stammered. She had not yet become entirely accustomed to interacting with Naruto in such an amiable manner. Sasuke's eyes slowly shifted from his surroundings to Sakura. He stared at her harshly, most likely misinterpreting her reaction. Her emerald eyes met his onyx ones for a brief second before she averted them in slight fright. "It did go well," she said almost bashfully.

"She's got another one tonight!" Ino blurted loudly. She giggled and covered her mouth with both hands, as if she could not control what she was saying. "Oops."

"Ino!" Sakura reprimanded. She glared at Ino fiercely, as if she could hardly believe her behavior, and she became embarrassed once more. Ino merely laughed at her, Naruto joining her in doing so. Sakura huffed and crossed her arms tightly against her chest, tempted to whack them along to the tune of the jolly holiday music that lightly echoed throughout the mall. Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, becoming annoyed with the entire situation. He wanted to leave the place as soon as possible.

"Aren't we here to go gift shopping?" Sasuke asked, though it sounded more like an order than a question. Regardless of having spoken with his normal volume, his voice was so firm that it seemed louder than the laughs emitting from Ino and Naruto, thus it effectively silenced them. Naruto returned to Sasuke's side, having moved slightly away in order to better join Ino in her laughter. Ino seemed to either completely disregard that Sasuke had essentially told them to shut up or act completely oblivious. Inwardly, she giggled at the fact that he had spoken at all.

"Yeah, he's right," Sakura said. "Let's do what we came here to do." In hope of a newfound feeling of camaraderie forming between them, Sakura looked at Sasuke boldly, in some way proud of herself for admitting his correctness. Except for the slightest movement of his eyes in her direction, he hardly acknowledged her, successfully eradicating the little hope that she had. _Naruto's boyfriend is such a little bitch! _However, she still found herself desiring his acceptance.

"Shopping!" Ino exclaimed happily, skipping ahead on the balls of her black boots. Undoubtedly, wasting all of her money was her favorite hobby, though at least today she would be spending it on others rather than herself. She slowed to a walk, allowing the other three to catch up to her. Soon, they returned to their initial alignment, with Sasuke on the far right and Sakura on the far left. Naruto tried to make conversation as they walked, but even Ino seemed somewhat reluctant to do so, apprehensive that Sasuke would not only growl, but bite. After several minutes of silently appraising the gift-potential of the stores which they walked past, Sasuke seemed to stop radiating irritation and chatter was allowed again.

For the most part, the conversation was between Ino and Naruto. Sasuke hardly acted as if they existed, 'they' seeming to consist of Naruto as well as the girls, though upon closer inspection, the way that Sasuke never drifted from Naruto's side by a single step backward or forward revealed that he was very aware of Naruto. Occasionally, Sakura added her own two cents to the conversation, though she was not paying much attention to it. She was more inwardly focused at the moment.

She hardly knew how to handle all of the changes that her personality had gone through. With each passing day, she felt more mature than the day before. She wondered if such progression was something that everyone experienced, or if hers had been delayed to the point that it happened all at once, much like a sudden growth spurt of a late bloomer. Sakura felt as if she had finally bloomed. Though she was somewhat disappointed with her reaction to the Lee situation, she was proud enough that she had tossed aside her preconceptions and had tried to look beyond someone's exterior. As she had previously stated, the purpose of her outing with Lee was to expand her horizons, but it was also to prove something to herself. Regardless of having downplayed it, she had enjoyed herself thoroughly last night. She recalled the moment when she had gotten some of her snow cone in her long, pink hair. _If I am no longer concerned with the aesthetic…_Sakura glanced to her right and saw a hair salon.

She hesitated for a moment before making a decision on an impulse. "Hey, guys, can we make a quick stop before buying presents?" Sakura asked quickly, interrupting their conversation. She halted walking, hoping to make them do the same before they strayed too far from the hair salon.

"Yeah, sure," Naruto said casually. Sasuke inwardly groaned at the thought of their visit to the mall being prolonged.

"Where do you wanna go?" Ino asked, her periwinkle eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Just over there," Sakura said nonchalantly, gesturing behind herself. Naruto and Ino stared at the hair salon, and Sasuke reluctantly did the same, but only to see where he would be dragged next.

"You're going to cut your _hair_?" Ino screeched, as if it was the most horrendous thing that she had ever heard. Sakura had the urge to nod meekly in response, briefly questioning her split-second decision, but she nodded firmly instead. "Well, uh, I guess it could be cute, but it might make your forehead look larger," Ino commented with some uncertainty. It was unclear if she had been serious when she made the reference to Sakura's forehead. Because Naruto was male, he did not understand what was so dramatic about a mere haircut, but Sasuke was also male and he could become rather anal when it came to his duck butt.

"That's fine with me," Sakura said confidently. "At least I'm able to make it look smaller. No matter what you do to your hair, you'll always look like a whore," she taunted with a giggle.

Before Ino could formulate an adequate retort, Sasuke interjected.

"Naruto," he said, making the girls turn their attention to him, then to the said boy. He ignored the stares of the girls completely. Naruto turned to face him with a questioning look. Though they had spent a good amount of time together today, it had felt like hardly any time at all, since Sasuke had been refraining from speaking and Naruto had been refraining from touching. Despite not desiring it, he felt strangely disconnected from Sasuke today. He wondered if it was the combined presence of the girls and the innumerable people that surrounded them.

"What is it, Sasuke?"

"You should get your hair cut too," he suggested.

Naruto looked at him and they locked gazes. After a few seconds of staring into the other's eyes, he smiled. "Alright. If you'd like that." Ino and Sakura merely gawked, unsure if something had just happened or if they had imagined it entirely. Something unsaid seemed to have passed between them. The girls continued to stare insolently until Sasuke looked at them so threateningly that it forced them to avert their eyes.

"Let's go, dobe," Sasuke said. He grabbed Naruto by the arm, dragged him past Sakura and Ino, and into the hair salon. After a moment of hesitation, they followed the two into the store.

To his surprise, Sasuke had found it fascinating to watch Naruto have his hair cut. Locks of the golden hair which he sometimes knotted his hands into and rested on his pillows wafted to the floor as the hair dresser severed them from his head. The young hair dresser, mostly likely dazzled by the handsome boys yet deterred by the beautiful girls, had allowed Sasuke to stand close by as Naruto had his hair cut. He watched Naruto through his reflection in the mirror, enjoying being able to do so without Naruto looking at him. Every so often, their eyes would meet in the mirror and Naruto would smile. As the hair dresser worked, more of his attractive face became visible, much to Sasuke's liking. His desire to be able to see Naruto's face without his outgrown bangs partially shielding his eyes from him had led him to the suggestion. He wanted to see Naruto clearly.

Naruto's hair cut was finished before Sakura's, due to the length of her hair. She sat in the chair beside him, with Ino hovering in the background as she watched with a combination of wonder and horror. Sakura was not satisfied with her hair until its pink fragments coated the floor and its ends hovered above her shoulders. Sakura felt as if she was a new person when she stood up from the chair. All of her jealously, malice, insanity, and ignorance that had been a part of her former self left her as she altered her appearance. Her friends had told her that she looked good, maybe even better than before, though they had to become accustomed it. Sasuke's eye had nearly twitched at the fact that her hair was the same length as his was in the front.

"I have no idea what to get Gaara," Sakura admitted once they had exited the hair salon. The cold air affected her more now that she did not have her long hair to protect her neck. "I mean, I don't really know what he likes aside from mango ice cream."

"So just get him a tub of that," Naruto suggested with a laugh. He was joking, but Sakura seemed to be seriously considering it. "He likes pandas, too, though he won't openly admit it."

"He likes to water plants, too," Ino chimed. "Maybe we could buy him a pet plant and name it Fernando." She tapped her chin thoughtfully and giggled at the thought of it.

"He already has a pet. It's a cat named Panda! That's how I know he likes pandas," Naruto said.

"Maybe it just _looks_ like a panda, Naruto, that doesn't necessarily mean that he likes them!" Sakura pointed out confidently. She smirked with self-satisfaction, as if she had all the answers. Sasuke scoffed at her behavior (hypocrisy?) and their entire conversation, which he viewed as trivial, though it had begun with validity.

"_No-_" Naruto started with slight frustration, suddenly adamant to prove that Gaara had indeed a love for the creatures. Ino, though, interrupted his imminent tirade with a cheerful noise of realization.

"Oh! I know!" She exclaimed. "Gaara listens to old music. He likes records. Remember how he DJed at Tsunade's party?"

"I'm surprised you even remember, you pig," Sakura teased. Despite having said it lightly, her statement held some legitimacy rather than being an insult based off nothing. Ino had become so intoxicated so quickly that it was a marvel that she remembered anything.

"That _does_ sound like a really good gift idea," Naruto said, almost whining as he did so, wishing that he had come up with it instead of Ino. He searched his brain for information on Gaara's interests, but the only thing that came to mind was the moment when Gaara had apparently become addicted to shopping at that particular store a few months ago. He remembered how he had thought of buying a gift for Sasuke there, thus causing him to glance at the boy at his side. At the time, any relationship with him that involved anything but hostility had seemed so far, if possible. Naruto smiled to himself and furtively brushed his fingers down Sasuke's back. His boyfriend remained immobile, yet he could tell that he had been affected by his tantalizing touch.

"Well it's my idea, so none of you better steal it! There aren't any record stores here, but I know one that's close by. We could walk there, it isn't far," Ino said with her typical alacrity. Her eyes glinted with excitement.

"It's alright. You and Sakura go ahead. I think I know what I'm going to get Gaara, and I can get it here," Naruto said offhandedly. "Sasuke and I will stay here." Sasuke was unable to keep himself from glancing at Naruto. To say the least, he was grateful to have a break from the girls. Ino's excitement appeared to diminish slightly at his statement, remaining potent nonetheless. She nodded in agreement. "When and where should we meet?" Sakura asked.

"Uh," Naruto said ever so astutely as he thought. "How about we meet at the food court for lunch?" He suggested with a slight shrug.

"Sounds good!" Ino chirped, meanwhile snatching Sakura's arm. She dragged her friend with her as she took a few steps away, then extended her arm into the air in a large wave. "See you guys later!" With that, Ino turned around and walked with Sakura in the direction from which they came, away from the boys. Sasuke immediately felt relieved.

Naruto and Sasuke turned to face each other. Despite the faceless passers-by in the background, they were alone now. Today, they had not yet had the chance to thoroughly enjoy each other's company. In order to combat voracious holiday shoppers, they had arrived at the mall earlier than most. For the sake of convenience (Naruto's wallet, and the Earth), Ino had driven them there, since her car was the most spacious. Naruto recalled how he had not even been able to spend the night with Sasuke. Lately, his boyfriend had been shying away from his bed. He would have briefly wondered what the reason for that was if he had not already known it. Though Sasuke could at times be rather vehement about the physical aspect of their relationship, Naruto knew that he often made him slightly uncomfortable. It was not as if he did not respect Sasuke, but he was a teenage male, thus he could only restrain himself so much when he felt Sasuke's body against his own in the darkness of the room.

Naruto halted his thoughts before they went further, but the damage had already been done. A light blush tinted his cheeks when he realized that he had been staring at Sasuke. He was certain that his eyes had been roaming over his body as well. For how long he had been doing so, he did not know, but he hoped that it had only been a few seconds. Naruto scrambled to gather himself.

"Let's go get Gaara's present," he managed to say. Sasuke looked at him, his gaze seeming to hold more scrutiny than usual. Naruto swallowed and began to walk towards the store.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked, following Naruto.

"Oh, just this store that Gaara likes," Naruto said casually, in a way that intended to pique interest. He succeeded to a certain degree; Sasuke was paying attention at the very least. "Actually," he added with a laugh, "he doesn't just like it. He fuckin' _loves_ that store. I mean, he'd never say it or anything, but it was pretty obvious. He _has_ to love it for it to turn him into a woman. Seriously, 'suke, you should've seen him, we had to keep dragging his ass out of there." Naruto babbled on that matter for the duration of their walk to the said store.

Sasuke had stopped listening some time ago, indifferent toward Gaara's shopping habits, but that did not mean that he was ignoring Naruto. He watched his lips as they moved with his animated speech and curled into a smile. Regardless of his lack of care concerning the words themselves, he relished it when Naruto spoke to him. Though it often became annoying, Sasuke remained glad for it, because it indicated that Naruto was comfortable around him, opened his heart to him, and was undaunted by his icy veneer. _Maybe he's like this with everyone. I think he is…but when he talks to me, it seems different than the way he talks to them. It feels different. I want it to be different._

Sasuke looked at Naruto as he glanced backward at him every so often while he rambled. Every time he caught a glimpse of those stunning, blue eyes, his thoughts and his heart stopped. He felt as if he was reduced to a brutish creature, incapable of anything but pure emotion. He had yet to attempt to openly describe the fervor that swirled within him for Naruto. Sasuke could hardly admit them to himself, therefore it would be some time before he could admit them to Naruto. Despite his lack of amorous words, whenever they exchanged lingering glances, it seemed as if Naruto knew.

Suddenly, Sasuke had the urge to tear away the remainder of his emotional constraints and vocalize his feelings. Any words he may have had became stuck in his throat. His eyes adhered to Naruto's countenance and the golden locks that barely brushed over the arch of his eyes. "Your hair looks good," Sasuke said, interrupting Naruto's chatter. His comment was inadequate but it was all that he could muster.

Naruto halted walking and turned to face Sasuke. Somewhat surprised by the random comment, he looked at his boyfriend for a moment before speaking. "Thanks," he said, smiling widely. "I'm glad you like it. I mean, I'd hope that you would since it was your idea and all. And now my beautiful hair is ruined! The things I do for you!" Naruto exclaimed jokingly.

"In that case, I should be the one thanking you," Sasuke said sarcastically. They walked in silence for several seconds. "So thanks," he said earnestly, nearly mumbling. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked away, suddenly feeling slightly embarrassed.

"No problem." _Anything for you._ Naruto considered articulating that thought, but something prevented him from doing so. He had taken notice of the slight discomfort that Sasuke displayed. "If you like my new hair cut so much, why didn't you say anything before?" He teased.

"The blonde slut and the cotton-candy haired bitch were there," he said blatantly, as if it explained everything. Naruto halted and he did the same, assuming that they had reached their destination. Sasuke looked into the dark store. Though he had not known that he had any expectations, they were not met. Imagining Gaara wandering within the store was strange, but it was not as if he knew the redhead at all.

Concluding that Sasuke was not about to move anytime soon, Naruto grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the store. The darkness consumed them as they entered the store and disappeared within its depths. Their vision of each other was obscured due to the lack of light. Naruto released his boyfriend's wrist and began to idly browse through a rack of clothing. Unwilling to assist Naruto, Sasuke merely stood and observed his surroundings into which he blended.

"So?" Naruto probed. It took Sasuke a moment to realize that he was responding to his prior statement. Though Naruto continued to slowly look through the clothing with his back to Sasuke, he discerned slight annoyance emanating from him.

"So…we're finally alone," Sasuke answered simply. Few people were in the store, much less in the dim corner in which Naruto and Sasuke stood. Naruto abruptly halted his mindless browsing, the metal of the hangers stridently screeching against the rack as he did so. He glanced over his shoulder at Sasuke. _Goddamnit, why am I such a horndog today? _Quickly, he returned his attention to searching for a gift for Gaara.

"Oh, come on, hanging out with my friends wasn't that bad," Naruto retorted after a moment of trying to pull his mind out of the gutter.

"They're _your _friends, not mine," Sasuke responded harshly.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Naruto spun around to face Sasuke and took a few steps towards him. His annoyance had become palpable after Sasuke's last comment. It mixed with his other emotions, which consisted of sexual frustration, and resulted in a combination that Naruto knew was dangerous. "I'd like it if you could at least stand being around them! I'm not even asking you to be nice!" Naruto professed, his voice rising to a near shout.

"I don't have to endure being around them. You're lucky that I agreed to come at all," Sasuke said dryly. He spoke somewhat louder than usual in order to match Naruto's tone.

Naruto sighed in exasperation and roughly ran a hand through his hair. He regarded Sasuke with a contemplative and irritated expression. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend, scrutinizing him, and took notice of the lustful glint in his eyes, present regardless of his displeasure. Briefly, Sasuke wondered if those were emotions that sometimes went hand in hand concerning Naruto. He had to refrain from taking a step back when he recalled the time during their fight in which Naruto had pressed him against the wall.

Cerulean eyes locked with grey ones, enabling Sasuke to clearly see the hunger in his eyes. Naruto closed the distance between them, his hand holding Sasuke's chin gently and his lips hovering mere centimeters from those of Sasuke. His free arm wrapped around Sasuke's waist, slipping beneath his jacket and gripping the fabric of his shirt. Naruto gazed into Sasuke's eyes and drew him close, so that the lower halves of their bodies were touching.

"You're so frustrating, Sasuke," Naruto whispered huskily.

Sasuke was captivated by the look in Naruto's eyes that demonstrated the extent of his desire for him. His lips tingled with the knowledge that Naruto's enticing lips were so close. Every fiber in his being screamed for him to lock lips with Naruto and place his hands all over his body. Sasuke was about to do just that when the foot steps of an approaching person interrupted his train of thought. Naruto glanced down at Sasuke's lips one last time before moving an acceptable distance away from him.

"Do you two need help with anything?" Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at the employee who had advanced towards them. Her hair was long and dark, matching her eyes in color, and her bell choker jingled as she moved. Naruto realized that it was the girl who he had mistaken as Neji the last time that he was there; she apparently worked there now. His face flushed slightly in embarrassment. "I thought I heard some shouting," she said. Her name tag read 'Kin'.

"Oh, no thanks, we're totally doing fine," Naruto said quickly. In fear that she had seen their intimate moment and that she remembered him (and his orange-ness) from last time, his face reddened further. "Actually, he was just about to try some clothes on." Naruto gestured towards Sasuke, who glared at him in response, snatched some random clothing, and stuffed it into Sasuke's arms.

"All right. I'll open up the dressing room," Kin stated blandly. She strode past them and they followed her as she led them to the dressing room. Sasuke frowned as he looked down at the clothing that he was carrying; he considered placing them on a rack, though he decided that was not an option in the given circumstances. Once they had arrived, Kin used the key around her neck to open the door, then proceeded to walk away insolently.

"Do I really have to try these on? It seems unnecessary. She already left," Sasuke pointed out with slight irritation.

"Ay, don't make me a liar! Just do it," Naruto demanded somewhat loudly. When the tone of his voice elicited a harsh glower from Sasuke, he decided to change his strategy. "Please?" He purred, somehow managing to be simultaneously cute and seductive.

"Don't tell me what to do, dobe," Sasuke growled. Despite that comment, he seemed to have been affected by Naruto's behavior and complied. Without another word, he disappeared into the dressing room. Naruto remained standing as he waited, assuming that Sasuke would not be long (it was not as if he would admire himself in the mirror). As anticipated, Sasuke soon emerged from the room. Though his face was expressionless as usual, Naruto could tell that he felt strange. He said nothing as Naruto's eyes roamed over his body appreciatively.

"Stop looking at me like I'm a piece of meat," he grumbled when Naruto would not cease his ogling.

"I can't help it. You look damn good," Naruto said in a low voice.

Sasuke met his penetrating gaze for several moments before narrowing his eyes at him and averting them, the slightest amount of embarrassment showing through his expression. He had briefly hesitated to exit the dressing room, and with good reason. Without realizing it, Naruto had given him clothing that was somewhat tight and rather provocative. Its color mirrored the darkness of his hair and contrasted brilliantly with his alabaster skin, much like the moon against the midnight sky. The shirt accentuated his slim, lean form and the v-shaped neckline exposed his collarbones and part of his chest; the dark jeans clung to his skin in a way that was flattering instead of crude. Naruto seemed to rediscover the appeal of Sasuke's ass.

Before Sasuke had a chance to respond, Naruto had quickly glanced over his shoulders, shoving him into the dressing room afterwards. Naruto had entered the room and shut the door silently behind him while Sasuke was still stumbling backwards. He quickly regained his balanced and proceeded to venomously glare at his boyfriend.

"Naruto, what the hell are you-?"

Naruto silenced him by covering his lips with his own forcefully, pinning Sasuke against the wall with his body. For a moment, Sasuke felt surprised, but the emotion soon dissipated into a combination of pleasure and annoyance. He began to move his lips against Naruto's and bit his bottom lip harshly as payment for attempting to dominate him. Naruto groaned in slight pain and responded with grabbing Sasuke's wrists and pinning them against the wall as well. Sasuke struggled to free his arms, breaking the kiss in order to glower at Naruto. Their breathing was filled with light pants as they looked at each other. Naruto witnessed the hostility leave Sasuke's eyes gradually as he stared at Naruto's lips, being replaced with another emotion that made him immediately lock lips with Sasuke once more.

Sasuke relaxed into the kiss, no longer fighting Naruto's grip on his wrists. He opened his mouth to allow Naruto's prodding tongue entrance and he relished the feel of it against his own. As the kiss continued, Naruto released his hold on Sasuke's wrists and let his hands explore Sasuke's body instead. His hands slipped beneath his shirt, leaving no inch of his skin untouched. Desiring more access to Sasuke, Naruto roughly pushed his shirt up, though he began to pull it over his head when he remained unsatisfied. Sasuke lifted his arms to make it easier for Naruto, his raven hair becoming disheveled as the shirt passed over his head. Naruto carelessly discarded of the shirt which had once been attractive, but had become nothing more than a nuisance in his view, concealing parts of Sasuke's smooth, pale skin from his eyes and hands. He kissed him with enthusiasm and passion as his hands found their way to Sasuke's nipples. Sasuke attempted unsuccessfully to stifle a small moan, suddenly becoming very aware of their location. Yet as Naruto's lips moved from his own to travel down his neck, he found that his mind became clouded with desire and he could not help but place his hands on Naruto's body.

Their hearts beat rapidly with the building excitement and the adrenaline that rushed through their veins as a result of their risky, taboo actions. A palpable near edge of desperation laced Naruto's kisses and touches. One of his hands wandered to Sasuke's ass and gripped it tightly. In the back of his mind, beyond the pale cast of thoughtlessness that had fallen over it, Sasuke knew that Naruto was frustrated; with every gesture it became increasingly apparent. The rate in which Naruto made trips to the gym had augmented as well and Sasuke was cognizant of the cause. Briefly, coherent thoughts progressed to the front of his mind; he recalled how he had been abstaining from spending the night with Naruto. The sensation of Naruto's hands running over his body beneath the sheets, the sound of his breathing, the stillness of the room at night, the feeling of Naruto's arousal at his back were all evoked from his recollection. They meshed with the current sounds and sensations to produce a stronger desire within Sasuke.

Their barely repressed moans filled the air; Naruto's stomach swirled when he thought of getting caught. He drew his lips away from those of Sasuke in order to look at him with his brilliant cerulean eyes. He noted every aspect of him; his tousled hair, his somewhat flushed face, the unfocused look in his dark eyes, his bare chest. It was almost as if Sasuke became a different person whenever they engaged in anything sexual. Naruto considered that perhaps Sasuke showed more of his true self when he succumbed to his desires. He regarded him for a moment longer before capturing his lips with fervor once more. Furtively, his hand wandered down Sasuke's body until his hand rested over Sasuke's crotch. Sasuke gasped into his mouth as Naruto gripped his erection through his pants.

"Naruto, not here," Sasuke hissed in between pants after he had pulled away from Naruto.

"That's not what this is saying," Naruto whispered with a grin. As he said that, he had tightened his grip on Sasuke's erection for emphasis. Despite Sasuke's minor protest, he began to undo the top button of Sasuke's pants.

"Idiot," Sasuke said breathily, some condescension remaining in his voice regardless of the fact that it was nearly a moan.

Naruto glanced at him in search of something in his expression which indicated that he could proceed, though Sasuke's tone should have been sufficient. After locking eyes with him, Naruto turned his attention towards his hands, which were fumbling with Sasuke's zipper. The brashness and confidence that had filled him mere moments ago had left him with hesitancy in their wake. For a number of reasons, he was apprehensive that he was making Sasuke uncomfortable. Naruto swallowed, his breathing seeming louder to himself than it was in actuality, and unzipped Sasuke's pants. He glanced at Sasuke before reaching into his pants somewhat tentatively. When Sasuke dug one of his hands into Naruto's hair, gripping his sleeve tightly the other, buried his face into his neck, and emitted a muffled moan, Naruto regained some of his boldness. Due to the fact that Sasuke was nearly latching onto him, it was slightly difficult for Naruto to move his hand, but Sasuke's completely uninhibited moans titillated and encouraged Naruto.

Sasuke began to suck on Naruto's neck, biting every so often as he did so. A single thought crossed Naruto's mind as he let out a small moan. _I'm the only one who can see him like this; the only one who can touch him like this. _All of Sasuke's defensive walls had been broken down; at the moment he was vulnerable, fragile, and had opened himself entirely to Naruto. He became more aware of the intimacy of the act, pushing aside the sexual aspects of it. Suddenly, Naruto felt somewhat guilty, though he was uncertain of what.

Sasuke's bites became harsher, as if he was demanding more from Naruto with them. His urgency was palpable as he moved hips and his pants became heavier. Naruto's own hardness throbbed almost painfully, aroused by the noises that Sasuke was making and reminded of his unsatisfied desire. He wanted to be touched in the same way that he was touching Sasuke, but he found the strength to push that want aside when he glanced down at him. He could only see a sliver of his pale skin since his face was pressed against his throat; Sasuke had halted his nibbles, all of his energy transferring to simply breathing, seeming as if he could no longer focus on anything else through his pleasure. Naruto smiled to himself and increased his pace. _It's alright. I don't need anything in return. Making him feel like this is enough._

Sasuke gripped him more tightly; Naruto knew that he was close to finishing. Right at that moment, Naruto's phone began to ring, playing 'I'm Too Sexy' at an obnoxious volume. Naruto abruptly halted the movement of his hand and stiffened. The sudden noise snapped Sasuke out of the daze he had been in and he lifted his head to look at Naruto, still panting though his breathing had slowed. They looked at each other for a moment before Naruto scrambled to grab his phone from his pocket with the hand that was not sticky with sweat. Caught up in their actions, he had forgotten that they were in a dressing room at the mall. In his haste, he nearly dropped his phone as he brought it to his ear.

"_Goddammit, what?_" Naruto shouted into the phone with frustration. Soon after, he realized that he had spoken loudly and had hushed his voice to a normal volume. "Um, I mean, what?" He corrected.

Sasuke just stared at Naruto as the person on the other side of the line spoke to him, Naruto's lips forming into a sheepish grin. The transition between their intimate actions and the return to reality, if present at all, had been much to quick for Sasuke to effectively register. After a few more moments of gazing, he noticed his unfamiliar surroundings. Though he was still hard and felt somewhat cheated, he quickly zipped his pants up and put his original shirt back on. He stood there, unsure of what to feel, as Naruto spoke on the phone.

"Oh, Ino!" Naruto exclaimed, most likely having momentarily forgotten that she existed. Naruto had taken a few steps away from Sasuke, his body slightly turned away from him, and was now standing in the center of the dressing room. He ran a hand through his hair roughly. "Shit, sorry, I lost track of the time. I can't believe it's lunch time already," he apologized hurriedly. He was silent for a moment as Ino spoke. "Goddamn, I _said _I was sorry!"

Sasuke remained leaning against the wall, almost as if he could not stand on his own, as he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened. He was grateful for the time to compose himself that Ino's phone call had given him. He looked at Naruto's back as he held his phone with his left hand atypically. Sasuke exhaled slowly.

"Oh, er, I didn't know that you were joking. Yeah, yeah, sorry. Okay, we'll meet you guys at the café in like ten minutes. Bye," Naruto said, then snapped his phone shut. He returned it to his pocket and turned to face Sasuke. His boyfriend no longer looked unkempt and wore a calm expression, yet Naruto discerned that he felt somewhat embarrassed. Naruto blushed slightly and wiped the sweat on his hand on his pants.

"Sorry," he said simply, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was unclear for what he was apologizing. Now that the distraction that was the phone call had ended, Naruto was unable to shove the previous sights and sounds out of his mind. Sasuke locked eyes with him, then took a few steps towards him.

"It's all right," Sasuke responded just as simply. Though he was still unsure of what he felt and what exactly Naruto meant, he resolved that he did not need to know. No matter what, his words would remain true.

Naruto smiled at him warmly, drawing him into an embrace. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto, rested his head on his shoulder, and sighed. "I promise that I'll make it up to you," Naruto said. Though he spoke his words somewhat softly, there was an underlying suggestive tone in his voice. This time, Sasuke had no difficulty understanding what he meant. "And I expect you to return the favor," he added with a grin.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and freed himself from Naruto's grasp, though he did not move so far away that he could not easily extend his arm and harshly poke one of the larger, purple spots on Naruto's neck. "Dobe."

"Ow!" Naruto winced and rubbed his sore neck. Sasuke smirked arrogantly, in a way proud that he had so effectively accomplished marking his territory (also known as Naruto). "Stop smirking like that, you bastard. Look what you did!" Naruto whined. "Of course you would be into biting the shit out of my neck. I'm so glad that I wore this jacket today, or else I would have to face Ino like this and I would never hear the end of it," he babbled as he zipped up his jacket. The high collar that had formerly been drooping was now snugly wrapped around his neck, successfully hiding all of his hickeys.

"Speaking of facing others, can you get out? I need to finish changing back into my own clothes." Though he had asked a question, it might as well have been an order, since he left no room for anything but acquiescence. Sasuke walked over to his crumpled pants and picked them up from the floor.

"Why can't I stay in here? It's not like there's a lot of you that I haven't seen," Naruto teased.

Sasuke sent him a vicious glare that made him immediately fall silent. "Listen, dobe, I don't know how long we've been in here, but I'm assuming that it's been a damn while. We're lucky enough that employee doesn't seem to give a shit. It'll look suspicious if we exit at the same time, so try not to be a clumsy idiot while you sneak out of here."

"Fine, fine," Naruto mumbled, for the most part undaunted by the harshness of Sasuke's tone. He had been long accustomed to his attitude and he had recently developed an even better understanding of what Sasuke really meant when he spoke. Naruto translated his words: _I'm nervous about getting caught. I'm shy so I don't want you to watch me change. Be careful, Naruto. _The door creaked slightly as he pushed it open after unlocking it. He looked out of the thin crevice that had formed with one blue eye, seeing no one. Quickly, he sidled out of the dressing room, glancing over his shoulder at Sasuke before he had exited completely.

As Naruto observed his surroundings, fearing that Kin would appear from behind a rack of clothing and tell him that she had heard everything, he remembered his purpose for being at the store. Momentarily, he panicked, having wasted all of his time intended for buying Gaara a present fooling around in a dressing room with Sasuke.

In the midst of his panic, Sasuke had approached him, the clothing he had previously been wearing in hand. To say the least, he had been surprised (and mildly grossed out) when Naruto had snatched the clothing from his arms and purchased it for Gaara. From then on time had passed by quickly; Naruto dragged Sasuke out of the store, across the entire mall to the food court, dumped him into a chair with the girls sitting across from them, and had stood up and left with Ino after eating in what seemed to be a few moments. Time slowed to a screeching halt as Sasuke looked at the person sitting across from him, realizing that he had been left alone with Sakura. Had he been suicidal, he would have chosen that moment to kill himself, but because he was not so, he decided to glare at her instead.

Sakura seemed highly uncomfortable, shifting her weight about in her seat and placing her hands unsurely on her cup of tea. Her cheeks turned somewhat rosy as her gaze shifted to the side and she bit her lip gently. Naruto's presence around Sasuke had made the raven-haired boy appear less intimidating, but now that he was absent, Sakura realized that it had merely been a delusion. Unafraid to meet her eyes, his frosty gaze locked on her. As she felt his eyes on her, she panicked within herself, desperately searching for words that would save her from her discomfiture.

"So, um, Sasuke," Sakura started, stuttering nervously. She glanced upwards for a brief moment to determine whether or not he was listening. Though he continued to stare at her, he was somehow able to do so while seeming utterly indifferent and aloof. Sakura took a quick sip of her tea. "What did you, and uh, Naruto get Gaara?"

"Clothes," Sasuke responded monosyllabically after a long moment of staring at her callously. His gaze shifted focus to their surroundings, seeming to stare into the distance without seeing anything at all. He lifted his cup in a refined manner and took a sip of his jasmine tea.

"Oh," Sakura said. Through her embarrassment, Sakura managed to become slightly annoyed with his reticent behavior, though she swallowed her irritation as she drank more of her tea. She reevaluated her previous idea concerning befriending Sasuke and resolved that she must be insane. When Sasuke's surly gaze returned to her, she reddened further and racked her brain for something to say. "Ino and I got Gaara those records," she stated blandly, hesitating for a moment before continuing. "We still have to buy presents for everyone else."

"Hn."

"Um, are you planning to get anything for Naruto?" Sakura asked tentatively, blushing at the fact that her efforts to force conversation were becoming increasingly evident.

At the sound of his boyfriend's name, Sakura seemed to fully capture his attention for the first time. No longer was he staring at her with vacant, cold eyes; a slight vitality filled the dark pools of his irises, though to Sakura's misfortune, they were alight with enmity. Sasuke scrutinized her bitterly, his lips forming into a thin, tight line. He despised the light blush that tinged her cheeks as if she was delicate and innocent when he knew of the real personality that lurked beneath her skin. Every time he looked at her, the recollection of past events came with the reminder of her existence. Screen shots pulled from his memory flooded his mind: Sakura clinging to Naruto's arm as they walked down the halls, Naruto lying frighteningly still on his damp sheets, Sakura's fake smile when she introduced herself to him at Tsunade's party, and Sakura kissing Naruto. Sasuke realized that he hardly knew anything about her, but the little he did know justified his antipathy toward her sufficiently.

He looked at her for a moment longer before deciding to respond. "I owe him a favor," he stated in what seemed to be his typical, indifferent tone. Sasuke brought his tea cup to his lips and a barely visible smirk settled onto them. Sakura stared at him dumbly for a moment, replaying his words in her head, trying to determine whether there had been suggestiveness in his words. Her face reddened with a combination of embarrassment and resentment. _So that's how he's going to play it, huh? Two can play at that game. _

"If I remember correctly, he still owes me a few favors back from when we were dating," Sakura said slyly. The color that tinted her cheeks faded quickly. She narrowed her eyes at him haughtily, her emerald eyes glittering with a challenge. Sasuke glared at her viciously, tightening his grip on his cup, and nearly growled at her openly. Even if he had made an effort to conceal his hatred for the former relationship between the two, he would have failed in retaining his animosity.

"I think those have expired by now. On the other hand, the favors I owe him are from half an hour ago."

Briefly, Sakura reflected on how provoking him to insult her seemed to be the only way to make him utter more than a single word. Though it was infuriating, a very small part of Sakura still wanted to become something more than a repugnant pink creature in his eyes. At that moment, though, that part of her was so miniscule that it was easily conquered by the part of her that was preoccupied with detesting him. She could not think of a clever retort, she could only blush at the images his statement generated, so she averted her eyes.

Both drank their tea, ignored each other, and wondered when Naruto would return.

* * *

The elegant Hyuuga mansion, in its mimicking of the buildings of classical antiquity and location in the center of the city, symbolized the long time establishment, influence, and traditional values of the eminent family. The Yamanaka estate, with its prodigious white façade, was exquisite, yet simultaneously nothing more than an archetypal mansion of new money that was perched upon a hill. The Haruno grounds aimed to recreate Eden, surrounding the modest mansion with lush gardens composed of cherry blossom trees and intricate, verdant labyrinths. Contrary to the conventional homes of the wealthy, the edges of the Sabakuno mansion were more angular, the building was composed of interesting shapes and designs, and large glass windows acted as walls in many areas. Sitting on the brink of one of the smaller mountains in the outskirts, it overlooked the city. The front faced the expanse of mountains in the distance that enclosed the city; a part of the mansion projected outwards from the back, extending out until it rested almost precariously on the verge of the hill, facing the thousands of city lights that obscured the stars. A long, narrow hallway led from the second floor of the mansion that was built into the sloping land, a large, circular room at its tip. The walls of the room were transparent, offering a marvelous three hundred and sixty degree view of the city. Kankuro had chosen it to be the location of Gaara's party.

Though Gaara was a legal adult, he still lived at home with his father, which in normal circumstances would have been an issue concerning the party. His relationship with his father, though, was far from normal. Since the day that Gaara was born and the day that his mother died, his father had looked upon him with hostility, labeling him a monster and blaming him for the death of his mother. For most of his life, Gaara had returned the hatred, as anyone would after being regarded with animosity for so long, until he had grown mature enough to understand and dismiss his father as a poor excuse for a man. His father still had an aversion towards him, spending most of his time avoiding Gaara and engulfing himself in his shady dealings. Therefore, he could not have cared less about Gaara's deeds, whether they ranged from murder to having a birthday party involving heavy drinking and a number college students.

The guests had begun to arrive around nine at night, giving them plenty of time to get smashed by the time midnight would strike. Though a good amount of people were there, they were all friends of Gaara, instead of mere acquaintances from school. After entering with Gaara's somewhat sullied present in hand and engaging in brief, trivial conversations, Naruto had dragged Sasuke to the circular bar in the center of the room, where they now sat with Gaara. Atypically, Naruto's group of friends was scattered about the large room: Sakura was standing at the edge of the room with Lee, talking to him animatedly and humorously trying to prevent him from drinking; Ino was hitting on Shikamaru, a glass of alcohol in hand, though he was unofficially Temari's bitch; Neji and Tenten were sitting beside each other in red, modern seats that faced the glass walls of the room.

Sasuke gripped his shot glass in annoyance, staring absently at the bottles of alcohol on the incandescent shelves of the bar. His ears throbbed with the noise that filled the room; the constant murmur of indistinct voices and the obnoxiously loud music that the speakers emitted ('How Many More Times' by Led Zeppelin). He recalled his reasons for deciding to attend Gaara's party and scoffed at them inwardly. His (nearly romantic?) ideas of being with Naruto as it transitioned into the new year and preventing him from becoming intoxicated had been flushed down the toilet. Currently, Naruto was turned towards Gaara, talking to him and drinking rather heavily. Sasuke forced himself to drink his shot of vodka, keeping himself from gagging at its foul taste.

"You're losing, Uzumaki," Gaara said with a grin that was wider and creepier than usual. Naruto laughed loudly at his comment, his face somewhat red, though Sasuke did not understand what was so comical about Gaara's words. Naruto refilled his shot glass with the bottle that the bartender had left for them, occasionally missing the glass.

"No, you are, Gaara!" Naruto insisted, attempting to make an angry face, but only succeeding in looking drunk. Gaara grabbed the bottle and poured himself another shot, the alcohol flowing over the brim for a second, though his movements seemed more coordinated than those of Naruto.

"You'd think someone like you'd be able to handle more alcohol," Gaara taunted, still smiling creepily. Sasuke turned to look at Gaara, his eyes narrowing, knowing very well to what Gaara was referencing.

"Shut up, shorty," Naruto slurred at Gaara, then spun on his stool to face his boyfriend. "Sasuke," he whined, "don't you think that I'm winning?" Naruto's pout, combined with his red cheeks, made him look irresistible, regardless of the blond's level of intoxication. Sasuke stared at him for a moment before shifting his gaze to his empty glass.

"You're wasted," Sasuke said contemptuously.

"Aw, c'mon 'suke, don't be like that," Naruto purred into the said boy's ear. "Loosen up a lil'," he said as he filled Sasuke's empty glass.

Naruto leaned over, draping his arm across Sasuke's shoulders, putting more of his weight on Sasuke than he had intended. As Sasuke tried to remain on his stool, he felt Naruto's lips brush against his ear. In what Sasuke assumed to be an attempt to suck on his earlobe seductively, Naruto slobbered all over his ear. Gaara and the bartender stared at the two with strange expressions. Sasuke roughly pushed Naruto off him, forcing Gaara to either catch him or fall to the floor along with the blond. Naruto laughed in a childlike manner, draped over Gaara now.

Sasuke ignored his boyfriend, turning his attention to the black and white cat that had jumped onto the counter of the bar. Panda twitched his tail and looked at Sasuke superciliously. Sasuke glowered at the cat and dumped his drink into its saucer, which (oddly enough) rested upon the counter, when it was not looking. Sasuke smirked haughtily to himself when Panda sniffed his bowl, proceeding to drink from it afterwards. Briefly, he considered whether it was pathetic of him or not to take out his frustration on a cat, in a passive aggressive manner, no less. He could see Naruto in his peripheral vision, a drunk, merry blur of black, orange, and blue. As Naruto drank, something more than mere annoyance irritated Sasuke. The difficulty he had in identifying the feeling made him wish that he had another shot of vodka to pour into Panda's bowl.

Soon enough Sasuke found himself standing at the edge of a table with Naruto at his side. His boyfriend reeked of alcohol, as did everyone else that surrounded the long, narrow, table (though Sakura, who was standing beside Sasuke, seemed to stink of something else as well). With uncertainty evident on his face, he turned to look at Naruto. Despite his intoxication, Naruto took notice of Sasuke's look, smiled at him warmly, and clumsily entangled his hand into Sasuke's. In the back of his mind, he noted the lack of enjoyment and the slight confusion in Sasuke's expression. Before his brain grew tired of thought, Naruto had enough time to deduce that Sasuke had become buzzed from the alcohol that he had playfully forced down his throat earlier. His attention span shortened more than usual, Naruto turned his attention to the impressive cake that was alight with nineteen candles in Gaara's honor. Gaara swayed slightly in his seat at the head of the table, his striped, cone-shaped hat nearly slipping off his head. The music had been turned off so that everyone's combined, slurred songs could be heard.

Sasuke wrapped his fingers around those of Naruto, holding them somewhat more firmly than usual. In his confusion, he seemed to be the only one that was not singing vociferously, "happy birthday dear Gaara…" Naruto, perhaps the loudest of them all, sang along mirthfully and loosened his hand from Sasuke's in order to erupt into applause and cheers when the song finished. Time seemed to fast forward; Sasuke sat at the table beside Naruto, ignoring the piece of cake before him, due to his dislike of sweets and the churning of his stomach. His boyfriend attacked his cake ravenously, murmuring something about how he should have shoved Gaara's face into the cake in between bites. Trying to distinguish his thoughts from the muddiness that overwhelmed his mind, Sasuke was vaguely paying attention to Naruto. Or so he had thought; when Sasuke emerged from the cloud forest of his mind, he realized that Naruto was no longer sitting beside him. Momentarily, he panicked as his lucidity returned to him.

Sasuke stood up from his seat abruptly, nearly stumbling as he did so. Briefly, he wondered how much time had passed since Naruto had left his side. His conflicting emotions of annoyance, confusion, and abandonment clashed vehemently with one another. Conceivably, ignominy may have been a small portion of what he felt, yet it was significant enough to be mentioned. He scolded himself for allowing himself to become so preoccupied that he had not noticed Naruto's absence. The lack of vigilance was unlike him, regardless of the poison that surged through his veins, and his subconscious crooned of the impossibility of loving someone when their departure went unnoticed. Sasuke strode across the large, circular room, his eyes searching for a head of golden hair.

Something within him became alight when he noticed that a redhead was in proximity to the blond one for which he had been searching. Gaara and Naruto were sitting beside one another on a couch, at the far edge of the room near the glass walls, talking. Though it appeared to be nothing more than friendly, drunken conversation, there was something about it that did not sit well with Sasuke. As he stalked toward them, he heard some snippets of their chat.

"…No. Listen to me. You don't even know-" Gaara began, slurring slightly.

"Aw, c'mon, you're exaggerating," Naruto rebuffed lightly.

"I'm not. Really, you changed the course of my life," Gaara insisted, his stare more piercing than usual.

"You're giving me too much credit. I mean, all I did was talk to the new kid," Naruto laughed sheepishly.

"Naruto," Sasuke said firmly, looking at him with his coal black eyes. He stood before his boyfriend, focusing his gaze on him entirely, ignoring Gaara, though the redhead's regard had shifted toward him. Naruto turned to look at him with slight surprise, as well as joy, in his eyes.

"Sasuke!" He acknowledged him with a brilliant smile, despite his slight intoxication. "I was wondering what happened to you."

For a moment, Sasuke almost looked at him incredulously, but scoffed instead. "I knew I'd end up babysitting you," Sasuke mumbled in a low growl, grabbing Naruto's arm and yanking him up from his seat on the couch as he did so. "Let's go, dobe." Sasuke dragged Naruto away so quickly that he did not have a chance to consider saying goodbye to Gaara. Gaara blinked slowly, seeming somewhat confounded, as if he was about to stand and speak, but Kankuro stumbled toward him before he could do anything.

Once Sasuke had pulled Naruto a sufficient distance away, he halted walking, and turned to face him. His hand gripped Naruto's arm tightly. Though he felt nearly livid, most of his anger melted away when he locked eyes with Naruto. His cerulean eyes were somewhat oblivious, due to the cloud that still lingered over his mind, innocent, and tender. Sasuke hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"What the hell, Naruto?" Sasuke snarled, though lacking venom.

After a few moments of maintaining eye contact with Naruto, he glanced down, his eyes still narrowed. He began to turn away, loosening his grip of Naruto's arm, his hand sliding down it as he did so. Naruto caught Sasuke's hand, held it tightly, and pulled Sasuke towards him, wrapping his arms around him from behind in an embrace.

"I missed you," Naruto whispered, brushing his lips against Sasuke's ear.

Sasuke looked down at the floor, his body somewhat rigid. No one was present where they stood; everyone had gathered at the opposite side of the large room, near the glass windows that faced the illuminated city. It was impossible to disregard their loud counting in unison, "3...2...1...Happy new year!" Everyone went wild, cheering ecstatically, the sound of their clinking glasses in cheers mingling with their vivacious shouts. All the lights in the room had been shut off, allowing the colorful light from the fantastical fireworks exploding over the city to irradiate the room. Naruto's grip on him was gentle, yet firm, his fingers pulling at the cloth of his shirt. Sasuke exhaled quietly and relaxed into Naruto's hold.

Naruto brushed his lips against Sasuke's neck and Sasuke swallowed. Even though he knew that Naruto was not yet sober, Sasuke could not help but feel immensely attracted to him at that moment. As he turned to face Naruto, another firework burst over the city, the flash of silver light illumining Naruto's face. Naruto kissed Sasuke gently before guiding him to the corridor that led back to the mansion.

The corridor was narrow, making Sasuke feel slightly claustrophobic; it seemed as if the walls were encroaching upon him. They passed a couple returning from the main building on the way, though they were so intoxicated that they hardly noticed the two, much less the fact that they were holding hands. Sasuke identified the swirling feeling in his stomach and realized that he was nervous. He thought of the couple they had passed; he had some idea of what Naruto was thinking. They entered the south wing of the mansion as Naruto continued to lead him down the many unfamiliar halls. They walked at a leisurely pace, calmly and quietly, regardless of the emotions within each.

They halted in front of a door, which Naruto pushed open, the door emitting a small creek as he did so. In the ostensible infinity of the vacant halls, the creek seemed far louder than it was in actuality, echoing throughout Sasuke's mind. His thoughts raced, though he could not translate them into words. Naruto's gaze shifted toward Sasuke as he stepped aside, his eyes nearly beckoning him to enter the room. Their eyes met for a brief moment, but Sasuke found himself unable to maintain eye contact for long, so he stepped into the unfamiliar, dark room. Though he had not wandered far into the room, Naruto had entered, shut the door behind him, and turned on the dim light with a series of fluid, silent movements before Sasuke had a chance to turn around. Words swam about in Sasuke's mind, feeling the necessity to utter something as the uneasiness accumulated within him, spreading from its origin in his stomach to his throat and his legs, manifesting itself in the form of inarticulacy and infirmity.

"Naruto…" Sasuke started when he found himself capable of speaking, his voice emerging somewhat huskily.

Naruto looked at him, his gaze was not quite scrutinizing, yet lingering somewhere close to being that, not quite lustful, but definitely desirous, and undoubtedly fervent. The faint light caused his pupils to dilate, however, it did not make the glittering of his eyes invisible. His golden hair somehow seemed more effulgent with the lack of light, and the light that was present fell on him in a way that emphasized his toned arms and the slight contours of his body. He advanced towards Sasuke, who did nothing but follow him with his coal eyes, his countenance seeming detached at first glance, but, rather, captivated upon closer inspection. Anyone other than Naruto would have not taken notice.

He placed a hand on Sasuke's chest, meanwhile kissing him, then pushed him backward onto the bed once Sasuke had become sufficiently distracted. Naruto crawled on top of Sasuke, deliberately pressing his body against his, nearly suffocating him with kisses that walked the fine line between intensity and desperation. Sasuke gripped Naruto tightly and kissed him with zeal in return, ignoring the smell of alcohol that overwhelmed Naruto's usual earthly scent in favor of what Naruto was doing with his mouth and hands. Naruto removed their shirts with urgency and his wandering hands began to fumble with Sasuke's belt. Something within Sasuke came to a screeching halt as he perceived that, though Naruto's hands had meandered there before, there was a difference in Naruto's intentions.

"Naruto…" Sasuke managed to say, though he moaned his boyfriend's name, unlike he had intended. Realizing that, his face becoming further flustered with slight embarrassment at his failed attempt, he forced himself to ignore Naruto's titillating touches with his mouth and hands. "Naruto. Naruto!" He repeated, this time far more forcefully and fiercely, a command evident in his tone.

Naruto withdrew his lips from Sasuke's skin, though his hands remained on his body, and looked up at his boyfriend, surprise written clearly on his face. He continued to pull away, so that Sasuke could now see the entirety of his naked torso, as well as the redness that stained his cheeks. Naruto's chest rose and fell with his heavy breaths, which seemed to persist no matter how much air he inhaled, due to the sudden apprehension that struck him. A flood of emotions which he had contained were released, his confident façade faltering for a moment in exchange for fear that he had done wrong.

"What?" Naruto asked, still breathily, and looked at him. "Sasuke.."

Sasuke averted his eyes in an effort to avoid Naruto's gaze, his cheeks tingeing pink slightly. "Stop. Get off of me," he ordered somewhat harshly.

Naruto stared at him, bewildered, obeying Sasuke's instructions nevertheless. Sasuke sat up, becoming quiescent afterwards. For an instant, the room was dreadfully silent, before Naruto started to speak hastily.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I'm such an-"

"No. It's alright. I…I mean," Sasuke paused, searching for the correct words, "you reek of alcohol. We're in a room in someone's house at a party and we aren't… properly prepared. " Though he finished his sentence, it was palpable that there was more that was left unsaid. Naruto read between the lines, sensing the true meaning of Sasuke's words. Again, his words spewed out of his mouth so rapidly that thoughts must have been transformed into them without a millisecond of delay.

"I understand. I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. You're right. I won't do that again, I-I won't make you uncomfortable-" Even though he spoke hurriedly, it did not prevent sincerity and slight shame from being conveyed. Each word teemed with unnecessary culpability.

Sasuke glanced up at Naruto, then his gaze shifted to the side. When he spoke, he did so with a veneer of indifference, unmistakably wanting to brush the subject aside. "I said it was all r-"

"No, no! It's not all right if that's the way you feel," Naruto interjected insistently, gesticulating to emphasize his statement. Sasuke met his gaze, slight surprise showing through his eyes. After hesitating for a moment, Naruto's voice decreased in volume and adopted an earnest tone. "Just…let me explain myself. Sasuke…I…I hope I'm not coming off as some horndog that just wants to get in your pants. I'm not acting like this just because we're at a party and I've been drinking and I think I could get away with it or anything like that. It's…it's…goddammit, Sasuke," he struggled with his words, becoming somewhat frustrated with himself, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I really don't. I respect you, it's just that…We've been together for over a month and…it's hard…I just want to be close to you. I just want to show you that…"

As he trailed off, he became absorbed in Sasuke's steady gaze. The dearth of light turned his eyes pitch black, without any distinction between the pupil and the iris; they lacked the depth that they normally held in the bright light, making his eyes seem nearly vapid, yet, astonishingly, that did not make them any less captivating. Naruto caught the breath that had left him so suddenly. "I really care about you, Sasuke."

The pure feeling and the honesty laced in his voice surprised Sasuke. He hesitated, looking away, his demeanor growing somber. "I know, Naruto." He felt as if his words were inadequate compared to the ardent ones that had been spoken by Naruto, the ones that expressed much more than what they denoted. His pale cheeks almost flushed and his heart beat rapidly at the thought of Naruto vocalizing what he had truly meant. "You were my first kiss," he admitted.

Naruto's eyes widened with candid surprise. "What? Really?"

"Well, what did you think? I hardly spoke to anyone. Don't act so surprised, dobe. It should have gone without saying," Sasuke retorted harshly, primarily because of the slight embarrassment he felt due to Naruto's reaction rather than his boyfriend's idiocy.

"Yeah, I guess so. I dunno," Naruto muttered, "I just thought that since you're eighteen and all that there might have been some time in your life where you kissed someone other than me." Sasuke merely stared at him, and Naruto's face reddened as he realized the slight absurdity of his statement. "I don't know! It could have happened."

"Everyone at age eighteen has not had as much experience as you have, Naruto," Sasuke explained blatantly, his expression calm and stolid, though there was slight sarcasm in his voice. Upon closer inspection, one may have discovered an underlying bitterness to his words.

"Your first kiss?" Naruto asked, mostly to himself. He seemed to look past Sasuke, losing himself in his thoughts, a wide, bright smile stretching across his face that made his whisker-tattoos curve upward attractively. Sasuke glared at him, but Naruto remained unfazed.

"Wipe that look off your face before I do it for you," he threatened.

Naruto's brilliant cerulean eyes focused on Sasuke and he smiled so warmly that it caught Sasuke off guard, causing his glower to falter. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, I can't help it. Just the idea of you being like that…It makes me really happy. You're all mine." He moved from his sitting position, closing the distance between himself and Sasuke with an embrace. He practically threw himself onto Sasuke, forcing him down onto the bed. The soft material of the comforter rubbed against Sasuke's bare back as he landed on it, and the smooth, tanned skin of Naruto made contact with his own as he landed on top of him. Naruto rested his head on Sasuke's chest, the warmth from his body radiating into Sasuke, spreading through his veins until it reached his heart. The room was silent for a moment as Naruto trailed his fingers across Sasuke's skin.

"I don't belong to anyone," Sasuke said finally, smiling subtly despite himself.

"One day I'll make you mine, Sasuke, even if it isn't anytime soon," Naruto responded softly, a simultaneous determination making itself known through his voice. Sasuke stared at the ceiling vaguely; he heard Naruto's words and comprehended their implications, but he chose to close his eyes and contemplate them another day.

For some time, neither spoke. The only noise was the combined sound of their level breathing; Naruto's head rose and fell as Sasuke respired. Sasuke's hand found its way into Naruto's hair, entwining his fingers with the golden locks. The stillness of the room and the implicit vows of love that passed between Naruto and Sasuke created an air of serenity. After they had remained like that until Naruto's eyelids began to feel somewhat heavy, he lifted his head from Sasuke's chest to look at the face that he cherished. Sasuke titled his head towards Naruto, no longer regarding the ceiling, and looked at the handsome and gentle face that observed him in return. Naruto leaned forward and kissed Sasuke.

"Even if I can't do it now…" he began once he had broken the kiss, his lips hovering mere inches from those of Sasuke. His voice was a husky, slight whisper. "I can still show you how much I care for you." Their eyes met, seeing nothing but blue and black in their proximity, a lustful spark flashing in them. Sasuke parted his lips slightly and Naruto took the opportunity to capture them, kissing him with a passionate vigor. He kissed down Sasuke's neck as he ran his hands down his torso, halting briefly once his lips had reached Sasuke's collarbone. He removed his lips and hands from Sasuke's skin only to undo his belt and unzip his pants. Naruto brought his lips back to Sasuke's collarbone, continuing from where he had desisted, and began to kiss and lick his way down Sasuke's body, looking up to meet his gaze with penetrative eyes, until he reached his destination.

* * *

(A/n): I didn't want the scenes involving sexual acts to be too explicit because this is literature, not porn, yet at the same time I did not want it to be so vague that things were unclear and hardly seemed sexual at all. It was somewhat of a challenge to find a balance. I tried to focus on Gaara a little bit more this chapter but I'm pretty sure I failed. That guy needs more screen time to develop his character. Also, I'm sorry for kind of straying from the current Itach-is-scary-and-lurking-in-the-shadows nature of the plot, but I needed to stick fluff in somewhere.

Christmas in October, woo! Ohoho, I bet you all thought that one scene in chapter 3 was pointless, but look now! Actually, it was pointless originally…I just found a use for it. So, let me know what you guys thinks! I'm anticipating a lot of feedback, especially from you fellow pervs! :3

Smile fun fact: Ino is a junk food vegetarian


	22. Promise

Heyo! I'm alive, and yes, I'm also still working on this story. I've been busy, but I've also been very lazy. I would like to thank my few faithful reviewers for giving me the inspiration to finish this chapter, and also NaruSasu fan art on the internet haha. This chapter is short compared to the last few I have posted, but this chapter is fairly simple. It just focuses on the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke (well I guess all the other chapters do too but you know what I mean).

If I don't get a shit ton of reviews for this chapter, I'm going on strike! Fear my threat!

Also, special thanks to my 1,100th reviewer, pokeyspot! Chu. :3

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I'm sure everyone knows that I don't own Naruto, at all. The only reason why I include this thing still is because of habit, and I get OCD about the structure of my chapters.

_Warnings_: Sex.

_See above threat, but add the word 'please' to it. _

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: PROMISE**

A promise made became a promise fulfilled as Naruto and Sasuke walked down a path hidden amid the trees with their fingers entwined. The tranquility of the park beguiled those who passed through it into overlooking the verity of its location in the center of a bustling city. Although Naruto had proposed the idea of a proper date three weeks ago, they had postponed it when Naruto had decided where he wanted to take Sasuke, not to mention where he wanted to go as well. Sasuke recalled how Naruto had looked at him with eyes that resembled the shimmering sea and a smile that seemed to have gathered all of the surrounding sunlight and adorned itself with it as he presented him with a flyer to a fair. Unwilling to succumb to Naruto's wishes because of a single, dazzling glance, Sasuke withheld his agreement until Naruto had begun to pout and whine annoyingly. Contrary to what Sasuke most likely thought, Naruto did not desire to go solely for the food and games, but for the memories with Sasuke that would be made at such a beautiful place.

Naruto was grateful for the seclusion that the trees offered, though the artificial cluster of trees could never mimic wild, evergreen forests. When they had looked upon several paths from which to choose that led into the trees, they had followed the path less trodden. It allowed Naruto to perform the simple yet significant and tender act of holding Sasuke's hand. With every step taken forward, their time openly linked together shortened. Naruto looked ahead, trying to peer into the distance to determine where the path, along with their intimacy, would end. Afterward, they would walk into a clearing, the crystal, frigid sky above them becoming more visible, and disappear into the crowd at the fair. There, some law would prevent him from touching Sasuke in the affectionate way he had grown accustomed to, though he usually did not mind much; the happiness that he felt from merely being at Sasuke's side was more than enough.

They walked silently through the mixture of trees, some barren, some with all their leaves, and others seeming to be frozen in their deciduous state. The winter air prodded at the nerves with a biting sting, forcing them to awake from their desensitized state and become alert, though the suddenness of their arousal made them especially so. With their enhanced senses, an electric feeling communicating something between the two souls seemed to pass between their hands. At the moment, Naruto did not know whether he should embrace the feeling that tickled his fingertips or attempt to ignore it in an effort to diminish the significance of the sensation, which only reminded him of his swelling feelings for Sasuke with which he struggled. He did not struggle with them because he was uncomfortable with loving Sasuke, but because his fear of making Sasuke uncomfortable persisted.

Naruto titled his head toward Sasuke, but only enough to be able to look at him furtively. Much of Sasuke's face was hidden by his raven hair, yet patches of his alabaster skin managed to shine through the silken strands. Clad in a mere sweater, his long neck seemed particularly exposed to the cold. His countenance appeared emotionless, but Naruto could tell that he was content. Naruto smiled softly, warmth filling his cerulean eyes. He thought of all the things that he loved about Sasuke, which even included the negative aspects of him: his insolent nature, his intelligence, his occasional violent outbursts, his alluring, haughty smirk, his expression whenever he became annoyed with Naruto, his abysmal eyes, his sincerity, his rare smiles, and his messy hair when he awoke in the morning; the list went on.

As Naruto wandered through his mind, becoming less connected to his physical body, his stare had grown less surreptitious, essentially turning into a gawk. The blunt nature of his gaze made it difficult for Sasuke to disregard it. Sasuke continued to stare ahead as he walked, refraining from acknowledging Naruto's stare because of his uncertainty of how to react to it. He felt a combination of wanting to avert his gaze somewhat shyly, smile in return, smirk at him knowingly, and stare at him with bewildered surprise, wondering how Naruto could possibly love him. Sasuke just gripped Naruto's hand more tightly, bringing him back from the maze of his thoughts, and continued to look ahead.  
Naruto kissed his cheek.

Once they had reached the end of the path and walked into a clearing, they strayed from the foliage and their hands strayed from each other. The cold seemed to have been waiting for an opportune moment to make an ambush, attacking Naruto's hand the instant that the warmth of Sasuke's hand left it. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, whereas Sasuke's dangled at his sides. They strode across the empty space between the trees and the fair, Naruto growing increasingly excited with every step. He babbled with childish excitement, all the while grinning brightly at Sasuke, chattering about all of the rides and games. The crowd swallowed them; Sasuke had trouble keeping up with Naruto, who was weaving through it quickly.

Naruto halted abruptly, in an area that was less filled with people, and turned to face Sasuke, who just emerged from the crowd.

"Sasuke!" He exclaimed animatedly. "Which ride do you want to go on?"

"I don't care. You pick one, dobe," Sasuke responded coolly. He titled his head in Naruto's direction, glancing at him as he blabbered about the rides excitedly, a small smirk settling onto his features. Naruto continued to survey his surroundings, deciding which ride to pick, and Sasuke gazed into the crowd which surrounded them. He recognized several people from school, and they seemed to recognize him in return, based on the fact that they seemed to pay particular attention to the two boys.

Before he had time to contemplate what he observed fully, Naruto grabbed his wrist, the sudden contact forcing him out of his pensive state. He turned, more quickly than usual, to face Naruto and met his gaze. "What?" He asked, slight annoyance evident in his tone, yet his voice was not harsh.

Naruto smiled toothily, the happiness which radiated from his smile palpable. "Let's go on the spinny ride!" He suggested, though it sounded more like a commandment than a request. Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes at Naruto's childishness, but smiled minutely regardless. The combination of Naruto's physical appearance, which included a defined jaw and toned body, and his occasional juvenile behavior would normally be considered strange, yet somehow it suited him. Naruto did not give Sasuke enough time to respond; he pulled him by the wrist toward the ride, essentially dragging Sasuke.

After the ride had finished, Sasuke emerged from it in a condition no different than the state in which he had entered it; his expression remained impassive, though he had to admit that he enjoyed the ride, and he walked with perfect balance. Naruto stumbled off the ride after him; the color had drained from his face and he proceeded to stagger until he reached Sasuke, leaning all his body weight on him.

"I feel like shit," Naruto groaned, his voice whiny and muffled, since he was speaking into Sasuke's shoulder.

"Naruto, get off of me," Sasuke growled, his voice strained from struggling to keep his boyfriend standing, or more accurately, to prevent himself from falling. Beneath the surface of his irritation, slight nervousness swam about, resulting from the extensive contact between his and Naruto's bodies. Naruto's warmth was beginning to permeate Sasuke's sweater and the heat tantalized his skin. "Now," he snarled.

Sasuke was about to attempt pushing Naruto off him, insensitive to whether he fell or stood, when Naruto peeled himself off Sasuke. Naruto took a few steps backward, lifted a hand, and scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Haha, sorry 'bout that," he laughed. "I'm all better now. I guess I'm not so good with spinny rides."

_Apparently_, Sasuke thought sarcastically. His eyes scrutinized Naruto for a moment, suspicion lurking in their depths. He could have sworn that Naruto lingered longer than necessary to recuperate, but then again he doubted that the dobe was capable of plotting anything and executing it successfully (And 'plotting' had a much too foul connotation for it to ever be applied to Naruto). Sasuke dismissed it and turned away slightly, noticing a few of his classmates in the vicinity. "I should have expected that an idiot like you wouldn't be able to handle that," Sasuke taunted.

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, and then lowered his voice after remembering that he was in public. Also, he realized that he was doing nothing but feeding Sasuke's haughtiness by reacting so violently. "You goddamn bastard," he grumbled, looking embarrassed.  
Sasuke snickered before resolving to change Naruto's pout into a smile. "What do you want to do next?"

Naruto pondered for a moment, placing a hand thoughtfully on his chin, his previous anger seeming to dissipate completely. As if someone had switched on a light, his features became illuminated with cheer. "I know! I'm going to win you a plushie," he declared with determination. Sasuke just stared at him blankly. "Wouldn't you like that?" Naruto purred, having regained his usual disposition.

After another moment of staring at him, Sasuke scoffed, choosing not to respond to his teasing. "Whatever. Just don't drag me," he stated pretentiously, while shifting his gaze away from Naruto. He succeeded barely in keeping a tinge of pink from rising to his cheeks and crossed his arms across his chest.

Naruto laughed loudly and sauntered ahead, stopping and turning around after a few steps when he noticed that Sasuke was not following him. "Fine, fine, Mr. Ice Princess," he said with a smile, "just as long as you walk with me."

Sasuke said nothing, but seemed to comply; he placed his hands in his pockets and took a few steps forward casually. When he stood beside Naruto, the blond began to walk as well, toward the game stands. The ubiquitous chatter of the surrounding people made it difficult to sustain a conversation, though they felt no need to speak to begin with, so a comfortable silence fell between them as they walked. When they arrived at the appropriate stand, Naruto bounded toward the counter, slamming down his plump frog wallet, momentarily drawing the attention of the other fair-goers at the stand. Sasuke walked up to the counter as well, though he stood slightly behind Naruto, unsure of whether he felt embarrassed or irritated. Regardless, he knew that it would be best to keep his distance, judging by the mischievous glint in Naruto's cerulean eyes. He surmised that the dobe, in all his enthusiastic idiocy, would end up throwing the balls everywhere.

"One set of balls, please," Naruto requested with an edge of tenacity. Sasuke glanced at him skeptically, briefly wondering if the blond realized the ridiculousness of his statement.

"…Right," the man at the gaming stand said after a moment. He kneeled and reached beneath the counter, grabbing several baseballs. Meanwhile, Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, wearing a cocky expression, uttering some nonsense about how Sasuke should begin inspecting the plushies, which hung above their heads, in anticipation of his boyfriend's inevitable triumph. _You've got to be kidding me_, Sasuke thought, scoffing aloud.

"Here are your balls, sir," the man said sarcastically, placing them upon the counter and pushing them toward Naruto. In return, Naruto tossed some coins at him, then quickly snatched a baseball and hurled it violently toward the bottles at the back of the stand. The ball had nearly hit the man, who was unprepared for the speed at which Naruto threw the ball, and sidled to the edge of the stand after a moment of standing rigidly. Missing the bottles completely, the ball struck the back of the stand with great force.

"Fuck!" Naruto yelled obscenely, grabbing another baseball while he cursed and flinging it angrily. Once more, he missed. "Aw, motherfucker!" Naruto seized the remaining balls and pitched them consecutively, with increasing amounts of strength and fury. They seemed to fly in every direction, except for the one which led directly to the despised bottles. When he ran out of items to throw, he shouted a colorful slew of curses and tossed more money at the man, demanding more balls.

"Naruto, calm down," Sasuke stated firmly, speaking louder than usual, clearly aggravated.

"I'm trying to win you a goddamn plushie here, so shut up!" The said boy retorted without turning to look at Sasuke, preoccupied with throwing more baseballs. The man behind the counter yelped, startled by a ball that had missed his head by a few centimeters. Naruto disregarded it completely, currently consumed by his desire to knock down the bottles, to such an extent that it seemed as if he was about to climb over the counter and smash them. Sasuke watched the poor man behind the stand attempt to dodge the balls; somehow, Naruto had turned an innocent fair game into one-sided death dodge ball.

"That's it, I'm tired of you behaving like a complete idiot, especially for my sake," Sasuke announced harshly, though he doubted that Naruto was even thinking of winning him something anymore. In a series of fluid motions, Sasuke caught Naruto's arm, pried the baseball from his fingers, and tossed it toward the bottles in a manner that looked almost careless. Naruto gawked at the spot on which the bottles formerly rested while the man handed Sasuke a fox plushie with gratitude.

"Here you go, dobe," Sasuke said casually, shoving the stuffed animal into Naruto's arms. For a moment, Naruto stared down at the prize, and then his lips erupted into a bright smile.

"Thanks, Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed happily, his anger seeming to have dissipated entirely. "Who would've guessed that you could be so sweet?" He purred teasingly, though Sasuke recognized that he truly meant his words beneath his taunting.

"No problem," Sasuke replied, a subtle smile settling nicely onto his lips. "Don't think that I did it for you, though, I just wanted you to stop being obnoxious," he said with a haughty smirk. "And I pitied that man working at the stand. I would've hated to be in his place."

Rather than grumbling at Sasuke's insults, Naruto continued to smile at him, though the brightness of it decreased, his expression becoming softer. His lips curled up gently, the whiskers on his cheeks arching attractively in response, and his eyes gleamed with ardor, in that moment seeming to be as deep as the ocean. Sasuke looked up at him, his dark eyes appearing less narrow than usual, and a piece of the small amount of ice still coating his heart melted. "Well, even still, thanks," Naruto said pleasantly, his smile broadening slightly. Suddenly, Sasuke had the urge to kiss him.

"Yeah," Sasuke mumbled dismissively, averting his gaze. A feeling of uncertainty surged through him, and his means of expressing it was to bury his hands into the pockets of his grey jeans. "Do you have any other brilliant ideas?" He asked, still hesitant to look directly at Naruto. Instead, he gazed to his side casually, wearing an expression of ostensible boredom.

Naruto opened his mouth, about to speak, when he noticed a flash of familiar dark hair in his peripheral vision. He turned, his countenance changing into one characterized by unsmiling lips and eyes narrowed with suspicion. Not a single person in the swarm that surrounded him resembled the image that had entered his mind at that sight. After another moment of scanning the crowd, he turned to face Sasuke, whose body was angled away from him, his boyfriend's eyes clouded with thought. Naruto had noticed the subtle shift in his behavior earlier, though he chose to speak nothing of it. Sasuke's demeanor indicated that the contemplation was not characterized by pensiveness, but of uncertainty instead. Normally, Naruto would have attempted to draw Sasuke from the maze of his psyche by speaking to him about trivial matters and wearing a broad smile; but currently, that image, blurry and grainy in his mind, as it was in the zoomed photos which he had viewed on a screen, haunted him. Naruto recalled that he had seen a boba stand in the distance when he had glanced backward.

"Yeah, I do, actually," Naruto responded, his voice sounding cheerful and casual as usual. Sasuke seemed to have hardly noticed the slight pause between his question and Naruto's reply. "I want some boba. What flavor do you want?"

"I don't know. I'll decide when we get there," Sasuke said, turning to look at Naruto after he snapped out of his daze.

"Er, yeah, about that…" the blond started innocuously, "I want some red bean shaved ice, too. I figured it'd be faster if you got that while I got the boba."

"You do realize that it's cold," Sasuke commented sardonically.

"I don't give a shit! I'm hungry," Naruto whined childishly. Sasuke merely stared at him with blatant skepticism, and he was met with an attractive pout in return. He exhaled slowly before turning away slightly. "Peach jade green tea," he mumbled.

"Alright. I'll be right back. I'll find you when I'm done. Oh, and hold my fox, I need both hands to carry the drinks," Naruto said quickly, stuffing the toy into Sasuke's arms and prancing away. Sasuke watched after him as his vivacious steps calmed into a walk, then turned and walked the short distance to the proper stand, entering the long line. Meanwhile, Naruto stood at the back of the line for boba, his hands in his pockets and his expression more controlled than normal. Though something within him anxiously whispered that what he thought that he had seen was not a mere shadow of his paranoia, he refrained from scanning his surroundings conspicuously.

After several minutes of waiting, he turned and left the stand, a cup of flavored tea with boba in each hand. He had only taken a few steps when he noticed the same ominous silhouette lurking in the corner of his vision. Naruto twisted quickly in the direction of the shadow, his body acting before his mind had a chance to follow. His eyes landed on a pair of men, one significantly taller than the other, who were average in every respect, except the taller man had dyed blue hair which was styled with gel. Their bodies were angled away from him, preventing him from seeing their faces, but their hands were visible to him; they held mochi, innocently enough. As Naruto scrutinized them, he felt strange for being suspicious of two men who blended into the crowd of people; but if that was the case, he asked himself why they made the rest of the world black and white in his eyes whereas they were in color.

The shorter man shifted, his cascading dark hair moving to reveal a face which resembled the one which Naruto loved strikingly; though this face did not evoke ardor from him, but horror laced with hatred. The image in his mind which had once been fuzzy suddenly became defined as Itachi turned toward him. Naruto froze as if he was chained to the ground on which he stood, desiring to run away but lacking the ability to do so. Briefly, he wondered how it had taken him so long to recognize the man which he was determined to protect Sasuke from. _He's not wearing his cloak, his hair is down, I couldn't see his face…_

Itachi's cold gaze settled on Naruto for a moment before recognition flashed subtly through his features. Naruto watched apprehensively as his red-brown eyes shifted to the left and focused on something in the distance. He did not need to turn to know that Itachi had noticed Sasuke. The man with blue hair turned, seemingly curious about what had captured Itachi's attention, and spotted Naruto. His lips moved as he spoke, then his shoulders shook as he laughed and his mouth curled into a gruesome smile.

_Sasuke._

More than he would have liked for Itachi not to notice Sasuke, he did not want Sasuke to see Itachi. Naruto doubted that Itachi escaped from jail and returned to Konoha City just to come after his little brother, and he doubted that Itachi would act upon seeing his brother as well. As for Sasuke, Naruto knew that a desperate, most likely repressed, wildness lay within him, and for Sasuke's own sake he did not wish for that aspect of his personality to be unleashed.

Naruto broke free from the chains which had held him to that spot for so long and walked away briskly. He reached Sasuke just as he turned away from the stand, shaved ice in hand, linked arms with him, and pulled him in the direction opposite Itachi somewhat forcefully. Sasuke pulled his arm away roughly.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sasuke barked, though he sounded more startled than angry.

"Nothing," Naruto responded, laughing it off as if he was merely behaving like an idiot for no reason. "C'mon, let's go find someplace to sit, I want to eat." He looked at Sasuke eagerly, plastering a bright smile on his face, though he feared that it would falter. He had considered leaving the park all together, but that would seem too abrupt and would raise questions from Sasuke in all likelihood, though his boyfriend did not appear to be particularly fond of fairs. Sasuke made a noise of acquiescence and they strode forward, alongside each other.

Naruto and Sasuke emerged from the colorful swarm of people, passing through the trees and continuing to walk in silence until the bustling fair had become a murmur in the distance. Once they reached a secluded picnic area, shrouded by foliage, they halted their journey and sat down across from each other. Naruto and Sasuke ate their food, each comfortable with quiet, left to their own thoughts which were swirling in their minds. Though Sasuke remained somewhat distant, he seemed relatively content as he drank his tea slowly, looking at Naruto occasionally. The length of the walk had given Naruto time to calm himself, though his nerves still danced with uneasiness.

Naruto looked up from his dessert and his eyes rested on Sasuke. His mellifluous voice, speaking somberly, entered Naruto's ear, subdued and distant. The statement was simple, perhaps too much so: _When I was about eight years old, my brother murdered my entire family. _Phrases followed, flowing to the front of Naruto's mind from the recesses of his memory. _Mental institution…scarred…avenger. _ Naruto feared Sasuke becoming aware of Itachi's proximity because he knew that he would lose Sasuke if that occurred. Physically, mentally, emotionally; regardless, he would lose him.

Naruto knew that he was in love with Sasuke. He demonstrated his love to Sasuke, he was sure of it, but he was uncertain of whether or not Sasuke truly knew.

"Sasuke…" Naruto started, kindness evident in his voice. It was difficult to approach such a serious subject without diving directly into it, yet he found a way to wade into it gently. "Thanks for getting me the shaved ice."

"Think nothing of it," Sasuke replied absentmindedly. At first Naruto wondered whether or not Sasuke had read in between the lines of his words, but then he realized that Sasuke's tone was casual to the point that it was purposely dismissive.

"I won't think nothing of it," Naruto said earnestly. "Though it's a small action, it still means a lot to me."

Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto, drowning in the cerulean pools which overflowed with sincerity and fervor. Before the oncoming wave of flush reached his face, he tore his eyes away and averted his gaze. "It's just shaved ice," he mumbled, though his voice remained strong.

"Would you have gotten it for anyone else if they had asked?" Naruto posed, though he already knew the answer. For several moments, Sasuke stayed silent as he mulled over Naruto's words. Normally, Naruto would have said something like that playfully and flirtatiously. Naruto's sincerity deterred him greatly; Sasuke never hesitated to react to Naruto's teasing, but when encountered with overwhelming seriousness from him, though not solemn, Sasuke found himself inarticulate.

"No," he finally responded, "but you're my boyfriend."

"And what does that mean, exactly?" Naruto prodded. His eyes did not wander from Sasuke, nor did his gaze waver in the intensity with which it regarded him. Though Naruto's stare was strong, it was not forceful; his eyes were filled with softness and underlying determination. Sasuke glanced at him once more, a mixture of emotions whirling in his dark eyes, and then looked away. Naruto observed him for a moment; his thin lips, his fine eyebrows, his sharp chin, his slender fingers, and his downcast eyes. He leaned forward, extended his arm so that his hand touched that of Sasuke, and his expression softened further, though his eyes remained passionate.

"Sasuke, I―"

"You don't have to say it," Sasuke interjected, speaking firmly and evenly, withdrawing his hand. Naruto's countenance changed to one of slight surprise. "I know," he continued.

Naruto returned to his original sitting position, placing his hands beneath the table. For the most part, he was undaunted, he should have expected such a reaction from Sasuke; or at the very least he should have expected the unexpected, whatever that may be, since Sasuke could be somewhat unpredictable when it came to his emotions. Regardless, he could not help but feel a sense of rejection. To be silenced, though not maliciously so, when attempting to pour his heart out frustrated him.

"But what if I want to say it? What if I feel the need to be able to tell you how I feel? Doesn't that matter at all? It's just words…" Naruto spoke, his irritation evident, though his words were gentle and somber.

"Exactly. It's just words," Sasuke countered, talking no differently than he would usually. Apart from that, Naruto discerned that Sasuke did not feel nearly as nonchalant as he was acting, though Naruto decided that he would not push this conversation for much longer. His determination remained potent, but if he was not careful his agitation would increase to dangerous levels.

"Goddamn, Sasuke. You and your intimacy issues. I don't know what you want. Before, you wouldn't accept me because I was only acting, openly confessing nothing, sending you mixed messages, which a few simple words might have cleared up. And now…Why won't you let me say it? You got angry at me because I didn't say it…" Naruto trailed off, his anger dissipating.

Sasuke said nothing, and merely drank some of his tea. Naruto watched him, hovering somewhere in between lethargy and resolve. His determination retreated as he decided to let the conversation drop. His thoughts returned to his encounter with Itachi, and he resolved that today was too delicate. Beneath his veneer of strength, Sasuke was delicate.

Naruto looked away, taking a long drink from his cup as he gazed at the surrounding trees which rustled as the cold wind disturbed them. Sasuke waited a few moments before lifting his eyes, to ensure that Naruto's attention was focused elsewhere, and then stole a glance at him; his golden locks tousled by the breeze, his pink lips, the fine marks on his tanned cheeks, and his eyes, like windows, like a churning sea.

* * *

Naruto's keys jingled lightly as he stepped out of his car and into the parking lot in front of the dormitory building. He exhaled, his breath forming a cloud in the cold air. Sasuke stood on the sidewalk, having already exited the car, waiting for his boyfriend. Naruto approached him, his figure obscured by the darkness which had followed the setting sun, and when they stood beside each other, they walked toward the entrance of the building. They remained close as they walked, though they refrained from holding hands since a few residents of the dorms were moving about the halls of the first floor. Their footsteps echoed slightly as they climbed the stairs to the less inhabited second level on which they lived.

Naruto halted in front of his door, assuming that Sasuke would want to retire to his own room after their date. He surmised that Sasuke would abstain from spending the night with him after his failed attempt to vocalize his feelings. Fingering his keys in his pocket, he turned to face Sasuke, preparing to say goodnight. When he locked eyes with Sasuke, he detected something in Sasuke's eyes which unsettled him.

"I want to stay for the night," Sasuke stated, his voice so firm that it allowed no room for anything except compliance. Nervousness was incited within Naruto as he continued to meet Sasuke's unwavering gaze. He fumbled for his keys for a moment before responding.

"O-okay," he stammered, inwardly questioning the sudden loss of his composure.

He unlocked the door and opened it, turning on the lights as he entered the room with Sasuke following. Once inside, he kicked off his shoes and headed directly for his bed, clearing it of the crumpled clothing which was strewn across it haphazardly. He felt disconnected from his body as his hands picked up garments unthinkingly and his mind whispered questions incessantly. When finished, Naruto straightened himself and glanced backward at Sasuke, his uneasiness evident in his stare. That feeling seemed to be contagious as it infected Sasuke through Naruto's look, causing his confident exterior to falter.

"I'm going to sleep," Naruto mumbled incoherently, tearing his eyes from Sasuke.

Briefly, he considered changing in the bathroom, but the realization that it would only augment the tangibly nervous atmosphere prevented him from doing so. He walked past Sasuke, toward his dresser, and removed a plain, white shirt from one of his drawers. Suddenly, he could not fathom how he often changed in front of Sasuke unabashedly. Facing the dresser, he pulled his hoodie over his head, along with the shirt he wore beneath it, until his tanned, toned torso was completely exposed. Quickly, he slipped on the white shirt, and then his hands moved to his belt. The noise which it made as Naruto unbuckled it seemed louder than it was in actuality. He pulled off his belt, dropping it on the floor, unbuttoned his loose jeans, and stepped out of them once they had fallen to his ankles. Clad only in his boxers and a t-shirt, he turned to face Sasuke.

His grey sweater discarded on the floor, Sasuke sat on the bed, the fabric of the long sleeved crimson shirt he had worn beneath it clinging to his form nicely. His gaze remained steadily on Naruto, though his mind seemed to be wandering indecisively, and his lips were parted ever so slightly. The image of Sasuke watching intently as Naruto undressed entered the blond's mind, and he nearly flushed when he wondered if that had been reality. Naruto's eyes roamed over the slight, attractive contours of his body, particularly noting the sliver of pale skin above his low-rise jeans which was exposed. Naruto realized in what direction his thoughts were going as he felt heat begin to build up within him.

Sasuke noticed the glint in Naruto's eyes which was slowly replacing the nervousness which had been there before. Though his heart swelled with certainty, and though this was the direction in which Sasuke had intended to take Naruto, he wished that Naruto's nervousness would return so that he would not be alone in the feeling that he tried to hide within himself. Despite the fact that his boldness was expressed through simple, subtle actions, it was uncharacteristic of him to be bold considering such circumstances. He looked at Naruto, who seemed enraptured by him, his demeanor now having changed completely. Simultaneously, it encouraged him and deterred him. Uncertain of what to do, Sasuke began to speak.

"Listen, Naruto," he started, "I know that I've been acting odd lately, but it's not because of you. It's just me. I don't know how I'm supposed to act in a relationship or what I'm supposed to do…And I don't want to be like this. I want," he paused for a moment, searching for the right words, "I want to be able to share things with you." He finished, his voice sincere, though it became evident that he was struggling internally as he spoke. Sasuke felt as if his words were vague and insufficient, but even still he had difficulty opening his heart and releasing his emotions. When he looked into Naruto's eyes, he was met with understanding.

"You don't need to say anymore," Naruto said in a low, husky voice, laced with fervor.

Sasuke was allowed one last look at his startling blue eyes before Naruto turned off the lights as he approached. Darkness fell over them like a curtain, though strands of dim, grey light from the city filtered through the crevices in the blinds, preventing their surroundings from becoming too indistinct. The lack of light soothed Sasuke's uneasiness, relieving him from feeling completely unprotected once he would rid himself of his clothes, yet he wished that it was brighter so he could see every detail of Naruto clearly. The bed creaked gently as Naruto put his weight on it, now sitting beside Sasuke, so close that their shoulders were touching. Sasuke angled his body toward him, leaning back slightly as Naruto drew even closer, his lips hovering a few inches away from those of Sasuke. Naruto covered Sasuke's hand with his own.

"Are you sure about this?" Naruto asked quietly, though his heart was racing.

"I am. I…I want you, Naruto," Sasuke said in a whisper which nearly quivered with desire. Regardless of the fact that Naruto had hardly touched him, he was already aroused. A passion unlike any he had felt before burned within him, ignited by the palpable mixture of lust and love which radiated from Naruto. His lips tingled with the knowledge that Naruto's mouth lingered in such proximity. Sasuke gripped the hand which held his own gently. "I trust you."

Finally, Naruto closed the gap between them by brushing his lips against Sasuke's gently. He continued to kiss Sasuke lightly, despite his every nerve screaming for him to kiss him forcefully and ravage him. Naruto leaned forward until Sasuke fell the short distance to the bed and he landed on top of him. Once lying down, Naruto pulled away, and looked into Sasuke's eyes with his own half closed. Though they could hardly see one another, their irises appearing like shallow, dark pools, the depth of their ardor for each other was evident in their gazes. Sasuke parted his lips invitingly and their lips met again, more firmly this time, yet still tentatively, as if experimenting.

Gradually, the kiss grew rougher and they moved their lips against each other's more quickly, more with an edge of desperate passion as Naruto restrained himself less and less. Sasuke dug his hands into Naruto's hair while Naruto slipped his beneath Sasuke's shirt and ran his fingers across every inch of Sasuke's skin that he could reach. Naruto pressed himself against Sasuke, pleasure shooting throughout his entire body, the only thing between himself and Sasuke being his thin boxers. When Sasuke opened his mouth and let out a small moan, Naruto took the opportunity to slip his tongue into Sasuke's mouth. As the passion continued to build, they kissed each other in between pants, until Naruto felt as if he could hold back no longer.

The feeling of Sasuke beneath him, the urgency with which Sasuke kissed him as he tightened his grip on his golden hair, the slight blush which undoubtedly tinted his pale cheeks, and his heavy breaths and arousing moans which filled the air sent Naruto off the edge. He felt as if he was losing his mind, seeing nothing and wanting nothing but Sasuke. Having been denied this for so long, he could not help but become increasingly aggressive. Suddenly, he tore himself away from Sasuke, but only to tear the clothing off Sasuke. Once Sasuke was stripped of everything but his boxers and Naruto had taken his own shirt off, his lips and hands were glued to Sasuke's body as if they had never left.

Sasuke retreated into his mind, his eyes closed, his world becoming nothing but wonderful sensations. Everything that ever haunted him slipped away, including his past and all of his insecurities, until Naruto was the only thing left. An equal, if not greater, amount of love for Naruto as desire for him surged through Sasuke. _This is the only way that I can prove to him that I love him. _Deep within himself, the part of him which was aware of his surroundings and grasped the entirety of the situation was incredulous. He, who had been submerged in loneliness for the majority of his existence, had been given happiness and had achieved a relationship which he thought he never could. Sasuke was tugged from the depths of his mind as Naruto pressed against him once more and moaned erotically in his ear.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered open right as Naruto's erection rubbed against his own, causing him to gasp. Without thinking, Sasuke reached down and wrapped his fingers around it firmly, atypically forward in his actions. Until then, he had selfishly been the only one receiving a sufficient amount of pleasure, when the hard manifestation of Naruto's desire which he held in his hands was proof enough that he needed release. Naruto pulled away, propping himself up on his elbows, so that he could look at Sasuke. Even in the darkness, Naruto was nearly irresistible; the little light in the room filled the slight recesses between his toned muscles, defining and highlighting them.

Naruto reached down and removed Sasuke's hand from him, taking it in his own and entwining their fingers. "Are you ready?" He asked simply, as he breathed heavily.

"Yeah," Sasuke responded without hesitation, just as simply.

"Alright," Naruto said, letting go of Sasuke's hand and leaning over the edge of the bed, somewhat to Sasuke's surprise. Naruto reached beneath it, and he returned with a bottle in hand. Sasuke sat up and stared at it for a few moments before realizing that it was lube. For some reason slightly embarrassed, Naruto explained himself. "I had picked this up a while ago, you know, just in case. It's not like I was really expecting that we would do it right off the bat or anything. But if there came a time where you wanted to, I wanted to be prepared." He paused, his discomfort fading as his features softened. An earnest look lined with concern settled onto his countenance. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke mumbled, unusually touched by Naruto's sincerity.

"I can't help it, I'll worry. I'll do my best not to hurt you. Sorry for making the assumption that I'm going to top, but I figured that since I'm more experienced, I should do it. Is that all right?" Naruto asked, uncertainty evident in his voice. All of his experience seemed to evaporate, though, since he was a virgin when it came to having sex with another man.

"It's fine," Sasuke murmured.

He removed the lube from Naruto's hand and dropped it on the bed. He moved closer to Naruto until he was in his lap, and then covered his boyfriend's lips with his own, kissing him with all the emotion he could muster. Naruto was effectively silenced and convinced. He relaxed into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Sasuke tightly, overwhelmed with such a feeling of love that he would have been more than happy to merely hold Sasuke for the remainder of the night. But Sasuke had taken control now, and the way in which he kissed Naruto was starting to demand much more than an embrace. Sasuke pulled away, placing his hands on Naruto's body, and he noticed that they were shaking slightly. Slowly, he ran his hand across Naruto's tanned chest, marveling at the smoothness of his skin and the firmness of his body. His hand traveled until it reached his slender hips, resting it there and playing with the edge of Naruto's boxers as he looked up to lock eyes with Naruto. The hunger which Naruto saw there caused him to lock lips with Sasuke vehemently and kiss him deeply.

Naruto pushed Sasuke back down onto the bed, landing on top of him roughly, without breaking their kiss. When he was out of breath, Naruto pulled away, panting heavily, and his eyes focused on the erection that was barely contained by Sasuke's boxers. His hands wandered down to Sasuke's hips, one hand on each, and looked at Sasuke once more before proceeding. Slowly, Naruto pulled Sasuke's boxers down until they were no longer on him. Though Sasuke was embarrassed, never having been completely nude before anyone, he allowed Naruto to take a long look at him. When he felt as if he could no longer handle the sensation of Naruto's lingering gaze traversing his body, he swallowed, then reached forward and pulled down Naruto's boxers. It was the first time that he had seen every inch of Naruto, though it briefly occurred to him that he was not the only person to ever appreciate the sight.

Sasuke slipped beneath the sheets, Naruto following suit, and then crawling on top of Sasuke. Naruto relished the feeling of his bare skin against Sasuke's and the warmth which radiated from his body. Nothing was concealed between them any longer; not just physically, but emotionally as well. Naruto kissed Sasuke tenderly.

"You're gorgeous," he whispered gently. He longed to tell Sasuke that he loved him, he wondered if perhaps now he would accept it; but then again he did not want Sasuke to mistake his confession for a meaningless one blurted in the middle of a sexual act, not truly loving Sasuke but the pleasure he felt instead.

Sasuke said nothing in response, but he wrapped his arms around Naruto in a warm embrace and locked their lips together. The urgency and lust that had been so potent before had not gone away, but rather it had taken another form. All of their energy which had been committed to sexual desire was now channeled through a different, yet equally as passionate, outlet, where their zeal was devoted to demonstrating their love for each other. It was unlike anything that Naruto had previously felt. He had done this countless times, but it was as if the act was being born anew with Sasuke.

Their hands and lips wandered until they could hardly contain themselves any longer. Sasuke could not fathom how he could crave something to such an extent; every bit of him ached for Naruto. He felt eager, timorous, nervous, amorous, cherished, everything. The magnitude of the emotion which swirled within him frightened him. The contrast between who he was at this moment and his former, hollow self was so great that he could hardly believe he was either.

"Sasuke… I can't wait any longer," Naruto managed to say.

"Then don't wait anymore," Sasuke replied.

Naruto found his tone extremely seductive, particularly when combined with the image of Sasuke's nebulous eyes, tousled hair, and wet lips. He accepted the invitation enthusiastically, his hands beginning to wander lower, lower, as soon as the words had left Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke closed his eyes. After a moment, he felt the cool liquid being applied to his skin and the sensation of being touched in a place in which he had never previously been touched. A finger slid in smoothly, and for the most part, it only felt strange, with a hint of something which resembled soreness from being stretched more than pure pain. When Naruto began to move his finger slightly, though, Sasuke hissed as the foreign feeling which had merely been uncomfortable transformed into pain.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked in a subdued voice, sounding worried and afraid. "Should I stop?"

"No, it's alright. I just need to get used to it," Sasuke said through a somewhat strained tone. He exhaled and forced himself to relax, realizing that tensing with pain would only increase it. The pain diminished significantly once he slackened his muscles, and he found the feeling to be unpleasant, but bearable. It seemed that Naruto noticed that Sasuke had calmed down visibly, since he felt another finger prodding at him tentatively. The second slid in, equating to nothing but pain at first, but Sasuke kept himself from groaning. He resolved that he would vocalize pleasure, but not pain. At this moment, he did not want to display weakness. He bit his lip and waited until he became accustomed to the sensation, partially ignoring Naruto's concerned questions. When Naruto decided to attempt moving his fingers once more, Sasuke thought he felt a flare of pleasure for a moment, though he was unsure.

Growing somewhat frustrated with the practicality of losing his virginity, and still hungry with desire, Sasuke uttered, "Just do it."

He opened his eyes to see that Naruto was hovering over him, gazing at him tenderly. He had settled in between Sasuke's legs, though he had not yet made a move to begin. He placed his clean hand on Sasuke's cheek and caressed it lightly, then pressed his lips against Sasuke's softly. Naruto pulled away, placing his head in the crevice of Sasuke's neck, while one of his arms reached down. His golden hair lightly tickled Sasuke's skin. Sasuke stared at the wooden bottom of the bunk above him, waiting, and felt Naruto pressed against his entrance. He closed his obsidian eyes. Pain surged through his body as Naruto entered him, causing him to grip Naruto's shoulders tightly, his nails digging into the tawny skin, and suppress of a grunt of pain. Naruto attempted to stifle a moan, unwilling to express his pleasure when Sasuke was in pain, caused by him no less, but he failed in silencing it completely.

Naruto remained still for some time as he waited for Sasuke to become used to the feeling. It was somewhat of a challenge for Naruto to refrain from moving, since Sasuke was wrapped around him tightly and he longed to feel that intense pleasure once more; but the idea of hurting Sasuke conquered his desire and kept him immobile. During the period in which Naruto did not move, neither spoke. Naruto listened to Sasuke's pulse and Sasuke listened to Naruto's breathing. For the first time in a long while, Sasuke remembered that an entire world existed outside of this room. Yet tonight, that world seemed to mimic the stillness of the room. He could not imagine it being any other way.

When Naruto started to move his hips slowly, the stillness dissipated. Everything was suddenly filled with motion; the steady, cautious thrusting of Naruto's hips, the swirling emotions within Sasuke, the mixture of mostly pain and some pleasure which washed over him repeatedly like a wave. Naruto moaned and grunted, whispering Sasuke's name in between pants, and began to move faster. Sasuke held onto Naruto tightly, a thin layer of sweat now coating both of their bodies, trying to ignore the pain and focus on the budding pleasure which kept escaping his grasp as soon as he thought he had it. Though a part of Naruto had become lost in his pleasure, Sasuke knew that he was keeping himself from being as rough as he wanted to be. So Sasuke panted hard and tried his best to endure the pain, though it lessened as time passed, hardly considering Naruto the source of his pain. It was just something that came with the experience.

Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke tightly, his breathing labored, and his cheeks flushed. _Finally, he's completely mine. _Naruto kissed Sasuke avidly, breaking the kiss occasionally to catch his breath, but always returning to Sasuke's lips. Sasuke moved his lips against Naruto's with just as much passion, his heart swelling suddenly and feeling as if it would overflow. Even if it would hurt every time they had sex in the future, Sasuke resolved that he would continue to do it. The connection he felt between himself and Naruto, the feeling of being loved and desired, and the silent communication the act prompted, which allowed Sasuke to say much more than he could ever hope to on his own, made it worth the pain. Sasuke ran his hands across Naruto's back, enjoying the physical and emotional closeness.

Naruto struck a spot within him which made his entire body tingle with pleasure, and Sasuke could not help but moan. He wanted more; he wanted that sensation to ripple throughout his body once more, but Naruto thrust hard and a warm feeling filled Sasuke. Naruto moaned loudly, the expression on his face incredibly alluring, and rode out his orgasm. He nearly collapsed onto Sasuke, burying his face into Sasuke's neck, his warm breath tickling Sasuke's skin.

After he caught his breath, he slipped out of Sasuke and lay on his side. Sasuke turned onto his side, so that he was facing Naruto, and he looked into his eyes. Naruto looked pleasantly tired, his eyelids drooping down, and a light blush tinted his cheeks. He brushed tangled, raven hair away from Sasuke's face, drew him close, and kissed him sweetly. Despite the throbbing between his legs, he smiled against Naruto's lips.

When the kiss subsided, Naruto pulled away and smiled softly. Then, he glanced down, noticing that Sasuke was still hard. "You didn't finish," he said with disappointment, frowning slightly.

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke replied honestly.

"No. I want you to feel as good as I felt." Naruto gripped Sasuke's erection, met with no resistance from Sasuke, and began to move his hand. Sasuke moaned with pleasure, having been much closer to finishing than he had realized. Once he had come, Naruto moved closer to him and wrapped him in a loving embrace. Sasuke's eyes were closed, a content, peaceful expression on his face.

"Next time, I'll make you feel better. I'm sorry for hurting you," Naruto said gently.

Several moments passed before Sasuke responded, and when he spoke, it was evident that he was hovering close to sleep. "You're not sorry," he mumbled, though he said it without a trace of resentment.

"A part of me is," Naruto said quietly. "But I am really happy that we had sex. Not for the reason you might think, but because it meant a lot to me. The fact that you shared so much of yourself with me, that you trust me."

He waited a few moments for Sasuke to respond, but he was met with silence. Sasuke's chest rose and fell gently as he slept in Naruto's arms. A smile settled onto his face as he looked down at the sleeping Sasuke, who looked so innocent, as if sadness and pain did not exist in the world. Naruto closed his eyes, hoping that, at least momentarily, he made Sasuke forget about his tormented past.

"Good night, Sasuke. Sweet dreams."

* * *

(A/n): If anything involving Naruto and Sasuke having sex was somehow physically impossible and incorrect, please tell me. I'm not a man, gay, nor have I had or do I plan to have buttsex, so I'm kind of going off the smut which I have read over the years. I apologize if anyone was disappointed with the first time Naruto and Sasuke had sex together, but losing virginity is supposed to be painful and kind of awkward! haha. I really don't know what you guys were expecting, I hope nothing too big. I wouldn't call their experience cliche, but I'd say it's pretty average. I know this chapter was super important and everything and maybe I should've taken more time with it, but I wrote the entire second scene today, ehehe.

So of course I'm going to start working on the next chapter, but I think I might go back and edit the first ten or so chapters of this story for about the millionth time, because they suck, especially in comparison to the genuis-ness which flows from my magical fingertips now. I think I might try to post some half-finished one shots that I've had lying around on my computer for an eternity, because I feel lame for only having one story haha. Would anyone actually read them? o.o

On a side note, and I'm probably ruining my own fic here, but when I reread the ominous part of the first scene I inwardly lol'd because I realized that Naruto was being all *srsface* as he held a big fox plushie xD

Review, PLEASE! D:


	23. The Days That Are No More

**SMILE  
**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own anything, including Naruto, because I am a hippie. Also, the title of this chapter is derived from the poem Tears, Idle Tears, by Lord Tennyson, a poem which was evidently not written by me.

_Warnings: _Cursing, Creepy!Itachi, Crazy!Sasuke, Angst (?), freakishly short chapters

_Review because today is my 18th birthday! :D_

* * *

**CHAPTER 23: THE DAYS THAT ARE NO MORE**

As he walked the streets of the city, he was never alone. Although he walked with no one physically present at his side, and he equated the swarm of people which surrounded him to mere ghosts, every step he took was followed by Naruto. Regardless of where Sasuke wandered, it seemed that he could never venture beyond the reach of Naruto's ardor. His constant presence in Sasuke's mind, whether he thought of Naruto consciously or Naruto became a pleasant temperament cast over his psyche, made it seem as if he flowed from Sasuke's thoughts and permeated the environment. Sasuke felt the gentle breeze of his caresses as the wind tousled his raven hair; Sasuke saw the brightness of his smile in the sunlight, and his scent filled Sasuke's nostrils as the fallen leaves rustled about his feet on the ground. Most of the time, as he meandered, testing the boundaries, if any, of Naruto's affection, a feeling of subdued content embraced him. For short intervals, what had haunted the recesses of his mind for the majority of his life seemed to dissipate. The notion crossed his mind that, in melting all too quickly, he had placed too much of himself into another person. At the very least, Sasuke could not think of anyone else in the world to whom he could possibly give his affections, or of anyone who deserved it more.

As he sat in class, no longer sharing any with Naruto due to the new semester, he found himself waiting for it to end, so that he could catch a glimpse of Naruto for a passing moment before they went in their separate ways for the day. The vitality, the drive and desire to live, which Sasuke derived from such short encounters, astounded him. Occurrences which had formerly frightened him, the shattering of his defensive walls and the enlarging of his heart, enough to allow someone entrance, ceased to do so. Sasuke had been stripped of all his clothing, left bare and susceptible, yet he felt stronger and more stable than he had ever previously felt. That, though, did not indicate that he was not wary of being hurt, but he placed his trust in Naruto. If Sasuke had doubted him so deeply, he would not have permitted Naruto to take his virginity.

Literally, he had lost something, though he mused over the possibility that he had gained something instead. The media, the people which surrounded him, had always placed such importance in the act, deeming it to be one of the most momentous experiences in life; and although Sasuke would never have called it insignificant, he felt no substantial change within himself that would indicate the occurrence of a such an event. What he had felt the following morning, aside from the dull pain between his legs, was a sense of reassurance, that his relationship with Naruto had been strengthened. As he wandered the city streets and the campus grounds, though he did not know all of the emotions of which his collective feeling toward it consisted, he could identify subtle happiness and slight incredulousness among them. In the past, Sasuke had never considered that someone like him could have an experience such as that; he had thought himself incapable of growing close enough to someone for it to be possible. If the implausible had for some reason happened, he never imagined that he would love the person.

The desire to discover other ways to share himself with Naruto arose from his inability to delineate his feelings effectively. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke could not utter a romantic word; not because he could not think of any to say, but because something seemed to physically prevent him from doing so, tying his tongue in a knot at the first thought of attempting to speak amorously. The most that he could manage were inarticulate, blatant statements, blurted in rare moments of emotional intensity, such as during a significant argument. Consequently, Sasuke turned his efforts toward subtle actions.

One evening, when the clouds had unleashed a torrent of rain upon the arid city, Sasuke had sat on the floor, a chest resting in the center of his room. He leaned back against the base of his chair, staring at it with nebulous eyes as he looked inward. The usual silence of his room had been engulfed by the rhythmic tapping of the rain against his window. If he closed his eyes, severing himself from actuality, he would feel as if he was suspended in space with nothing but the constant, soothing sound. He had allowed himself to lower his eyelids completely, imagining that his heart beat in harmony with the patter of the rain; he remained like that for some time as he waited for Naruto to return from Gaara's mansion, the chest in the center of the room quietly present in the back of his mind. Sasuke recalled having dug through his closet earlier, emerging from it with the chest which contained the fragments of his childhood in hand. No eyes had seen the photos with crumpled, burned edges, except his own; and even those had not glanced upon them since he had trapped them within the chest years ago. As he envisioned his hand reaching into the darkness in order to remove the photographs, slight uncertainty filled him, and he wondered whether or not he wished that they had been salvaged from the fire.

The doubt had vanished soon after Naruto had walked through the door, though, brimming with vivacity, despite his damp hair and clothing. Naruto smiled at him brilliantly and Sasuke resolved that, with Naruto present, he had the strength to look at the photos. Until he had taken notice of the unfamiliar chest on the floor, Naruto had babbled enthusiastically; then he had sat beside Sasuke with curiosity and looked at the object. The chest stood firmly, its appearance giving the impression of weight, and its significance was exemplified by the fact that Naruto fell silent after staring at it for a few moments. He understood instantly.

The first picture which Sasuke pulled out of the chest was a formal portrait of himself and his immediate family. Naruto had drawn closer to Sasuke as he showed him the damaged photo, his fingertips lightly touching those of Sasuke. Sasuke's father wore a stern expression, the corners of his lips bent downward in a slight, constant frown; a great deal of his character was reflected by his demeanor. Sasuke's mother, with dark, cascading hair and a youthful face, despite the formality of the picture, appeared to be sweet and gentle. The resemblance between Sasuke and his mother was striking; and as Naruto's eyes shifted to the person standing to the left of her, he noted that Itachi took after her almost entirely as well. The face which Sasuke's mother wore so kindly took a somewhat disturbing twist as Itachi wore it with calm gravity, his hands placed on little Sasuke's shoulders. Instead of seeming oppressive and ominous, somehow, the gesture was tender. Little Sasuke's smile was subdued by the formality, yet his eyes sparkled brightly. Even now, it was a smile that Naruto had never seen on Sasuke's countenance, and it was most likely a smile that Sasuke would never regain. It was filled with the kind of happiness which was only achievable during childhood, characterized by innocence and ignorance; a happiness which was not only directed toward his family but toward the world in general as well.

Sasuke did not say much concerning his family, except for simple bits of information, such as their names and their professions. Mikoto, housewife; Fugaku, chief of police. It came to Naruto's attention that, other than the bare facts, Sasuke had never spoken about what had happened to his family. The moment at which Sasuke had briefly revealed his past to Naruto, Sasuke had recounted the massacre in the same manner as a detached news reporter. He spoke of nothing regarding his emotions; how he had felt at the time, how he felt about it now, how he felt about Itachi. Sasuke did not mention him, his silence regarding his brother speaking far louder than any words could. Naruto had looked away from the photo in order to catch a glimpse of Sasuke's expression, which he could not decipher. His countenance, though, was hardly characterized by enmity. His dark eyes adhered to the image of his brother; the unvoiced pain which swam in them incited an epiphany in Naruto. Aside from the mere admiration, the envy, Sasuke had loved Itachi profoundly. How easily did love transform into hate: no line existed separating one emotion from the other; they blurred into each other, united by the great fervor which distinguished them from all other feelings. Neither emotion was self-sustaining.

The two continued to look through the few pictures. Whether they spent a significant amount of time staring at each because there were so few of them, or because there was something substantial within every photo, no matter how simple it appeared on the surface, Naruto did not know. Another photo to which Naruto paid particular attention was a picture of Sasuke wearing a small backpack. This time, Sasuke's smile was unrestrained, and the informal nature of the image caused Naruto to assume that it was a candid photograph taken by his mother. Itachi lurked in the background, glancing backward over his shoulder in recognition of the photo being taken, though where the top half of his head would have been, there was the blue carpet of the floor instead; the edges had been severely burned.

They came across a photo of Itachi and his father; Fugaku remained austere, but a sense of pride was evident in his expression. In stark contrast, Itachi's face was impassive, though the hollowness of his eyes, which resembled a void, as if anything in proximity would be swallowed by the total emptiness, suggested that something was churning deep within him. He held a prestigious award of academic achievement with his slender fingers. Judging by Itachi's age in the picture, it seemed to be the most recent photo out of all of the ones which had survived the inferno. The smoke from the blaze had given the photograph an odd hue, reminding Naruto of grainy, sepia photos from a distant time, so unreal, yet so relevant. He could hardly grasp that, as he looked at these photos, he was gaining insight into the early life of a mass murderer.

After Sasuke had finished sharing the pictures with Naruto, he placed them within the chest and shut the heavy lid, but he did not return it to the closet. He allowed the chest to sit between him and Naruto.

"You've never told me about your past," Sasuke stated casually, as if merely observing a fact, however Naruto discerned that it was an invitation. At some point, as Sasuke had been sifting through the photos, with Naruto at his side in silent support, he had realized the extent of his own selfishness. Although Sasuke knew that Naruto was an orphan, like him, he had never asked Naruto to speak of his past. He wondered if he had never done so because it had never occurred to him to ask, since Naruto always bubbled with happiness, which may have made it seem unnecessary; or because he did not want to reveal a part of himself in return, though he knew that Naruto was likely too considerate to ask that of him. Either way, in the end, Sasuke was selfish. For a reason unknown to him, he found himself hoping that Naruto would overlook that in a lack of perception.

"You're right," Naruto started, his expression thoughtful and slightly puzzled for a moment, "I never noticed that. Oh well. I don't know why I didn't tell you anything about it before. I guess it just never came up in conversation. There isn't much to say, mostly because I don't know enough to really say much. But I'll tell you the little that I do know. I have my mom's last name, Uzumaki, because my father wasn't there when I was born, either because he had left my mom or because he was dead. It doesn't really matter which one it was, because he wasn't there regardless," he mumbled, the former rambling nature of his speech adopting a somber tone. His voice dropped slightly in volume and he directed his gaze at the floor as he delved into his past. Sasuke looked into the eyes that resembled a clear sky upon which clouds were encroaching. "But I do wonder," he continued, "whether he had abandoned her willingly, or if he had known that she was pregnant with his child. I don't know anything about my father, not even his name. Kushina, my mom, told the people at the hospital nothing about him. The one thing I know about him, I guess, is that I get most of my looks from him, because my mom had bright, red hair and eyes like the color of the sky before a storm. Even though her name was Japanese, she was hardly Japanese at all. I think that she was mostly Irish, or some other kind of European." Naruto fell silent for a moment, realizing that he was beginning to digress, and then resumed speaking.

"She died after giving birth to me." He paused, his sentence lingering in the air, followed only by the sound of the incessant rain. The slight twinge of guilt which laced Naruto's voice made Sasuke feel as if he should reach out and touch Naruto in an act of comfort, yet the chest remained between them, immovable. Sasuke kept very still, waiting for Naruto to begin talking once more. "The hospital had searched for living relatives, but they couldn't find any. So I was left to an orphanage, and I guess that no one wanted to adopt me. Records told me what she looked like. But I want to know more than just that. What was she like? Who was she? What streets did she walk, what emotions did she feel, what did she like and dislike, what did she desire?" As Naruto listed questions, it seemed increasingly as if he was speaking to himself. "And the thing I wonder the most is if…If she loved me, and if I was a wanted child." They were questions which would always be answered by silence, questions which he could pose to no one and expect an answer.

Naruto knew that not even Sasuke, the person to which he felt the most connected, could form a response more adequate than silence. Most people would have attempted to reassure him of things of which they had no knowledge, that his mother certainly had loved him, and that his father had not left them intentionally. His story was one that was spoken of only to have someone listen to it; he expected nothing of Sasuke but the attention which he had given him. Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto, whose expression was difficult to read, apart from its evidently pensive nature. He extended his arm and pushed aside the chest which separated them, moving forward slightly, closer to Naruto, as he did so. Naruto closed the remainder of the space between them, covering one of Sasuke's hands with his own, and gripping Sasuke's arm lightly with his other hand. For a moment, all that Sasuke could see was cerulean, and then Naruto brushed his lips against his own. They lay down together across the space which the chest had formerly occupied and they listened to the steady downpour. Naruto held Sasuke simply and softly, his grip gentle, if present at all.

Sasuke closed his eyes, resting his head on Naruto's chest, listening to the wonderful sound of the rain mingling with Naruto's heartbeat. Although nothing could relieve him of his burden, he was comforted and reassured. Revealing his past more fully to Naruto did not suddenly make it tolerable or acceptable, but at least he had someone to help him shoulder his burden now. Naruto glanced down at Sasuke, seeing only a mess of raven hair. The photos of Itachi had become engraved in his mind; he could only surmise to what extent they had affected Sasuke. He considered that Sasuke might deserve to know that Itachi had returned to their city, undetected so far, but in the end, he said nothing. To think of it was pointless, but Naruto's mind wandered there nevertheless, traveling in useless circles, like a dog chasing its tail.

* * *

Soon after the second semester of his freshman year had begun, Naruto decided that he would move in with Sasuke. With the new classes that came with the new semester, Naruto felt somewhat deprived of seeing Sasuke during the day, due to their conflicting schedules. He and Sakura did not share a class either, although, to Sasuke's displeasure, Sakura had followed him into one of his new classes. She had tried to sit beside him, but after several days of him ignoring her so deliberately that it became highly offensive, she relented and sat directly behind him instead. Naruto even had to admit that he would miss his strange, but amiable professor, Kakashi Hatake, whom he was most likely never to see again because he had completed his history requirement, with Sasuke's assistance. He considered thanking Professor Hatake for seating him next to Sasuke; he wondered what course his life would have taken without that class, amazed at the importance of a seemingly insignificant detail.

The physical barrier which Sasuke had built between them was no longer present. It had not been torn down vehemently, nor had it merely disappeared, but Naruto had carefully and slowly lifted each brick from the wall, so that it would not collapse, until so little of it remained that Sasuke had decided to remove the rest himself. It only seemed appropriate and natural to move in together at such a point, especially considering that the dormitories were intended for two people. Sasuke had never explicitly agreed to Naruto's proposal; his response consisted of telling Naruto to move into his room, since he claimed that Naruto's room was in dire need of being cleaned.

The following weekend, they began the moving process. They had set aside the entire day, despite the proximity of their rooms, because Naruto's room was in a state of chaos which would take hours to sort through. In his excitement, Naruto had mentioned the move to Sakura, who had eagerly offered to help them. She had seen an opportunity to win Sasuke's approval, or tolerance, at the very least, and she grabbed hold of it tightly, her last attempt to befriend him ingrained in her mind. Naruto was very glad for her assistance and treated her kindly, as usual, whereas Sasuke avoided her blatantly, hardly sparing her a glance. His silent rejection stung her. Sakura's stubbornness prevented her from outright leaving, yet her embarrassment encouraged it. She stopped helping them move the moment that she had found syrup and lube resting alongside each other while clearing items out from beneath the bed.

Sakura had not been the only one to come across interesting things in the wonder that was Naruto's room. Sasuke had been going through Naruto's drawers, transferring his clothing to his own room, when he had come across a pair of suspicious, red boxers which were covered with pandas. Sasuke had halted, noticeably quiet.

Naruto had noted Sasuke's lack of shuffling and looked up from digging through his closet, spotting the red boxers. "Oh. Those are Gaara's," he had explained casually. Then, he had continued his quest to organize his closet.

Sasuke had turned to look at Naruto slowly. "…What?" He had asked, his eyes narrowing, as if daring Naruto to say another word.

Naruto had shrugged dismissively. "People get drunk." Sasuke had growled and hurled a random object at him, forcing Naruto to dodge the oncoming projectile. "Just kidding!" He had added with a sheepish laugh.

The move reminded Sasuke of many things as well. When he was putting away some of Naruto's things in his room, he had rediscovered the midnight gown. It was buried in the back of his closet, to be forgotten, because it was one of the few possessions that he had which was worth forgetting. As he looked upon the dress now, he found that the thoughts which it evoked were no longer unbearable; the thoughts were not laced with uncertainty, frustration, and yearning. The sight of the gown did not bring forth an unfamiliar feeling which he could not label, but had suspected of being love. The dress had been a mask which he had to wear to hide himself from Naruto, as well as society. Sasuke could recall that he had felt such emotions, but he could not induce them in an echo, with the same stinging clarity with which he had felt them originally. The memory, though it would always remain important, had lost some of its grave significance. Now, Sasuke kept the dress hidden for the simple reason that he wanted to slap himself for having worn it for Naruto's sake.

Sasuke exited his room, walking across the hall alone, since Naruto had gone to pick up take out for lunch. Once in Naruto's dorm, which was now less chaotic, he temporarily placed the cup ramen which had been sitting on top of Naruto's miniature refrigerator on the floor beside the desk. He lifted the refrigerator, which was coated with stickers, and carried it to his room, stacking it upon his own. When he opened it, he found, not surprisingly, a six pack of beer, a bag of potato chips, and a half-eaten chocolate bar. Sasuke returned to Naruto's dorm, somewhat amused, to pick up the ramen which he had set on the floor. As he bent down to gather the food, something gleaming in the sunlight behind Naruto's desk caught his eye. For a moment, he paused, staring at the indistinct object, and then proceeded to move the desk. He reached for the object and his fingertips made contact with a cool, metal surface. Sasuke opened his palm to learn that he was holding a half-heart with the name 'Sakura' written across it.

He stared at it, his body becoming rigid. The cool sensation of the metal was beginning to burn a hole through his hand. The red emblem was far more intolerable than her mere presence, which now provoked petty resentment in him instead of abhorrence. Sasuke inspected the broken heart which had been carelessly discarded; the jagged edges which sickeningly symbolized that the owner's heart could not be complete unless they were with the person who possessed the other half. Although he thought he knew why she bothered him, he found himself questioning his reasoning. Sasuke knew he should be mature enough to refrain from harboring such negative emotions toward her, but he was immature, in his own way. He hated to think that Naruto had been anything other than his own, especially hers. He hated to think that she and Naruto had done the things which he and Naruto had done together. Even though everything was different now, the past lingered incessantly in his mind.

Sasuke dropped the heart into the waste basket, picked it up, carried it down the stairs, and poured its contents into the dumpster.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke sat together in their room; Naruto sat on the bed, his computer resting on his legs, supposedly writing a paper, but mostly likely idly passing time on the internet. Naruto halted his typing for a moment and turned his head to look at Sasuke, who sat at the desk doing calculus, vaguely listening to the news. All that he could see of Sasuke was his raven hair, his back, and a sliver of pale skin. Upon regarding him, Naruto found that happiness swelled within him. Despite the distance between them as they sat across the room from each other, Naruto felt very close to Sasuke. The conversation which they had had the other day remained floating about in his mind. He felt as if he understood Sasuke a great deal more now, as if they had attained a new level of intimacy. That day also made him realize how much of his own past he had been hiding; Naruto had convinced himself that he had never spoke of it because the topic never arose in conversation, but he knew that it was more than that. It had taken them too long to reveal their pasts to each other. Naruto smiled softly and returned his attention to the computer.

The events of that day had not wandered far from Sasuke's thoughts either; as he did his homework, he stared at his paper vacantly, solving problem after problem without a single thought relevant to calculus, the image of Itachi in the photo haunting his mind. He had thought that he could handle looking at those pictures, but his reoccurring nightmares had returned shortly afterward. Even if he had Naruto at his side, he should have expected that looking at those photos would leave an impression on him. His own weakness disgusted him. Sasuke attempted to stifle the unsettling emotions which were welling within him; he forced himself to focus on his work.

The news remained a constant murmur of information which his mind soaked up unconsciously until he heard the familiar and poignant sound of his brother's name. The reporter stated that, after what seemed to be a dormant period of about two months, a recent sighting had confirmed that Itachi and his criminal organization were once more present and active within the city.

Naruto's head snapped up, although he tried to control his movements, once he registered what he had heard and noted that the continuous tapping of Sasuke's pencil had halted sharply. His cerulean eyes darted to Sasuke, who had dropped his pencil, who dropped everything, including his existence, to be absorbed by the television. As the images on the screen changed, some depicting Itachi, Sasuke's eyes flashed, reflecting it. Sasuke sat with the stillness of a body without a soul, an absolute stillness which disturbed Naruto, causing him to wonder if Sasuke was breathing. The absence of vitality in his eyes, the consuming hostility which was there, the single-minded focus of his gaze, pushed Naruto over the edge. Unable to take the sight any longer, Naruto pushed his laptop aside, reached for the remote control, and turned off the television.

Sasuke continued to stare at it for a moment after it had been shut off, appearing to be too engrossed in whatever was occurring in his own mind to immediately register that the screen had become blank. Then, he turned toward Naruto sharply, his face contorting with rage. "Why did you do that?" He demanded fiercely, nearly shouting.

Naruto looked into Sasuke's furious, black eyes, and then glanced off to the side, his own eyes darkening. He remained quiet as he sat on the edge of the bed, a mixture of frustration and desperation swirling within him. His silence contrasted greatly with the vociferous nature of Sasuke's voice. "You shouldn't be watching that," Naruto said quietly, although with strength.

"I'm not your fucking child," Sasuke retorted harshly. "Don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do."

Naruto stood up quickly from the bed, his face no longer composed with touch of melancholy, but instead a combination of angry and concerned. "I'm just worried about you! I mean, who wouldn't be, if they were in my position, when you were looking at the TV like it became your entire fucking life!" He replied, his voice rising in volume toward the end of his statement.

"It only makes sense that a story concerning Itachi would interest me, you idiot," Sasuke countered callously. Naruto paused for a moment, feeling the sting of Sasuke's caustic words. Although when they had first met, Sasuke had insulted him and had meant it, it had not been personal, and he had never done it in such a vitriolic manner, as if he intended to hurt Naruto. "He's my goddamn homicidal brother, and I have a right to know what he's up to," Sasuke declared vehemently.

He approached Naruto, whom he stared at steadily and almost threateningly. His eyes dared Naruto to make a move in response, and Naruto stood his ground. Although his exterior appeared sturdy, internally, he was in a panic, apprehensive toward where their argument was headed. Despite the anger which Sasuke incited in him, which he could not subdue, he had no desire to fight with Sasuke. His mind raced as he thought of the fragility of their relationship at that moment; how easily it could be broken. Sasuke halted before him, the corners of his lips twisting momentarily upward in a taunting, grotesque smirk, then grabbed the remote control which rested on the bed near Naruto. As he turned toward the television to turn it on, the panic which had been formerly contained within him surfaced. He grabbed Sasuke forcefully, turning him around and tearing the control out of his hands.

"Give that back to me," Sasuke growled. He did not wait for Naruto to comply with his demand; he lunged at Naruto, attempting to pry the remote out of his hands, in his fury forgetting that he could have easily pressed the power button on the television to turn it on. "Let go!" Sasuke ordered. As they struggled over the item in a near fist-fight, grabbing, shoving, and striking each other forcefully enough to leave bruises, Naruto was close enough to Sasuke to clearly see the hateful look in his eyes. Naruto pushed Sasuke away violently and furiously hurled the remote control at the wall, causing it to break in a loud crack. Sasuke stumbled backward, panting, and regained his balance. He glowered at Naruto, who was breathing heavily as well.

"I don't care if you have a right to it," Naruto snarled in a low, passionate voice, once he had regained his breath. He gazed at Sasuke intensely, his blue eyes feral. "That doesn't mean it's good for you. Look what it does to you, what it turns you into!" The edge of desperation in his voice became apparent as it increased in volume until it became a yell.

"I'm not your little fucking princess, either. Stop treating me like I'm a precious, fragile doll that needs to be protected," Sasuke spat bitterly, a hint of disgust in his tone. The angry look in Naruto's eyes faltered for a moment, replaced with distress, as he realized that their argument ran deeper than he had thought. He discerned that Itachi's presence in the city had been gradually causing the wall that Sasuke had built between himself and his memories to deteriorate, that it caused the inadequacy which Sasuke felt, because he had been unable to stop his brother, to surface. The Sasuke which stood before him, with black eyes which looked upon him almost as if he was a stranger, resembled the one he had caught glimpses of in the halls without noticing, the one that he had met on that day in August, more than the one which he had held in his arms the previous night. Naruto took a step toward him, his lips parting slightly as if he was about to speak. "I don't need you," Sasuke stated, interrupting Naruto before he had even begun. His tone was more defensive than convincing, though. "I was fine. I was strong enough before you came along. You think that I'm so fucked up that I can't handle seeing him for a few seconds on the news?" He accused venomously.

"You're taking everything the wrong way! I don't mean it like that. I don't have any bad intentions. I don't mean to _insult _you by showing some concern for you!" Naruto shouted, the full volume of his voice emerging, as well as some sarcasm. He could not help but submit to his short temper after several provocations from Sasuke. The route which the argument followed began to veer toward ridiculousness, and Sasuke was driving it there. His raven hair fell into his eyes, his lips were pressed together tightly and twisted in the slightest frown; his eyes were aflame with intense emotion and wider than his usual narrow gaze. Naruto looked at him, taking in disarrayed appearance. "You should see yourself, Sasuke," he growled. "You know, you never tell me how you feel about any of this shit, you just leave me guessing about it, so how I am supposed to know whether or not you can handle it?"

"Of course you wouldn't know how I feel," Sasuke stated in retaliation. His mind was too clouded by anger and his vision dyed too red for him to see the logic in Naruto's words. He paused for a moment, glancing to the side, before his obsidian eyes returned to meet those of Naruto. "You and I," he began, his voice significantly colder, "we're both orphans, but you could never know the pain of having lost so much, when you had nothing to begin with."

"You think that it doesn't hurt?" Naruto asked, somewhat incredulous. He wondered if the filter between Sasuke's mind and his mouth was still in effect. After looking at Sasuke once more, he tried to convince himself that this Sasuke was not the one who had listened as he disclosed his feelings concerning his past, the pain that he bore. "I still suffer from the same kind of loneliness," Naruto insisted, his tone revealing that he had been wounded by Sasuke's words. "Abandoned before I was even given a chance to be loved," he murmured somberly, lowering his gaze.

Sasuke said nothing, but his silence was not characterized by sympathy or realization of his fault in hurting Naruto. When Naruto raised his eyes, he saw Sasuke staring at him with an impenetrable countenance. Naruto remembered that he cherished that indifferent face and loved to look into those hostile eyes. The recognition of the gravity of their argument which he had forgotten in the heat of his anger made him recall the precariousness of their situation. In that moment, Sasuke, along with their relationship, had become incredibly fragile, and were teetering toward devastation. He searched his mind for anything that he could say to fix the damage which had already been done. Naruto took a step forward, gazing at Sasuke earnestly.

"But what I never had, I have now, in you. And I don't want to lose you, Sasuke. Not to anything…not to this…not to Itachi!"

When Sasuke's lips twitched upward slightly in response to his despairing plea, Naruto stared at him with disbelief.

"Oh, so now this is about you? I hadn't known that you were jealous of my fucking sociopathic brother," Sasuke taunted cruelly.

"Why do you have to be so difficult? I just wanted to protect you!" Naruto shouted in frustration, although his voice was laced with a hidden emotion. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He discerned that Naruto's eyes betrayed something. His face contorted viciously when he realized that Naruto's statement resembled a confession of guilt. The silence which filled the room suddenly felt so heavy that Naruto struggled to breath under its weight. Sasuke tortured him with his hateful stare for several more seconds until he spoke.

"…you knew…You knew that Itachi was still in the city, and you hid it from me deliberately. Even when I asked you about it directly, you lied to me," Sasuke said through his teeth. He was clearly irate, although his anger was no longer uncontrolled. His fists were clenched and he stood rigidly in evident restraint. Naruto had never been looked upon with such volcanic eyes, which simultaneously seemed to burn with loathing and regard him callously. His own gaze could not help but falter momentarily under such a powerful stare; he averted his blue eyes and glanced to the side briefly. Although the rational part of his mind reassured him that he had done nothing wrong, culpability surged forward from within him and engulfed him. It was impossible to avoid such emotions when Naruto was subject to such a condemning gaze. After glancing at the carpet for half a second, his eyes returned to meet those of Sasuke.

"But Sasuke," he pleaded, although his voice was not characterized by weakness. Such a gaze could only be answered by a statement in the defense of the accused. "I just thought that it would be better if you didn't know. I didn't want something like this to happen, I—"

"There's nothing that you can say to justify your actions in my eyes."

Naruto stood dumbstruck, his lips slightly parted and his eyes somewhat wide. His mind whirled in an incredulous rage; his thoughts became twisted and tangled; his nerves felt as if they were about to burst as he attempted to comprehend how Sasuke could be so irrational. He could not wrap his own mind around the inner workings of Sasuke's mind. The swarm in Naruto's mind diminished enough to reveal an image of a dark-haired, sinister man. "Why can't you just forget about Itachi?" He shouted wildly.

The ties which had been restraining Sasuke's anger snapped abruptly and he erupted violently. Not a trace of callousness remained visible in his countenance, all of it having been devoured by vehement emotion. He glared at Naruto intensely, his raven hair falling into his face and casting shadows across it. "Get out," he ordered ominously.

"Sasuke—"

"Get out of my sight!" Sasuke screamed viciously and lunged at Naruto. Naruto was startled by the volume and ferocity of his voice and his speed, rendering him incapable of registering what was occurring until it was too late. Sasuke gripped him so tightly that he felt as if the imprint of Sasuke's fingers had been branded onto his skin. The door was thrown open forcefully, hitting the wall loudly. Sasuke forced Naruto out the door and locked it.

Naruto stood in the hall and stared at the door. The sudden silence of the hall seemed louder than the yelling which had filled the dorm room a moment ago. The absolute emptiness of the hall swallowed him; the hall seemed to stretch for eternity, without end, like a vacant universe. The stillness, the silence, was not compatible with his racing heart, the adrenaline which pulsed through his veins, the incomprehensible mess in his mind. The sinking, drowning feeling of realization, of reality striking him harshly, though, went perfectly well with the eerie quiet. Naruto stepped toward the door, knocking his fist against it, and called Sasuke's name several times. He was met with no response each time.

His voice felt strangled from straining it by shouting. Naruto sat down, leaning his back against the door, waiting. His golden hair fell into his dull eyes as he slumped over. He wanted to tear the door down, but he knew that force would accomplish nothing. He felt pathetic, like a dog kicked out of the house and scratching at the door, hoping desperately to be allowed entrance. Naruto knew that Sasuke would not open the door, not at that moment, nor several hours later. But his pride, his determination, and his love for Sasuke, which remained potent even in that moment, kept him rooted to the ground. Realistically, he was aware that he would be sitting outside of the door all night or perhaps even longer. His stubbornness told him to stay there, but he wondered what he could possibly say to Sasuke if he did open the door. More time passed, what was most likely an hour but felt like an infinite amount of time, and his determination was steadily being replaced with weariness. His mind and body grew tired. _I don't know what to do._

Naruto reached into the pocket of his jeans and felt his keys. He pulled them out, holding them in his palm, regarding them listlessly. Several minutes passed before Naruto stood. He walked down the hall, down the stairs, out the door, into the night, into his car, and began the drive to Neji's home. He convinced himself that his actions did not equate to surrender.

* * *

(A/n): I hope that Sasuke being crazy wasn't completely random or anything. I've been trying to build up the mental instability and what not over the last few chapters, kinda. I dunno. Blame the latter chapers/episodes of Naruto Shippuden, Sasuke is like batshit insane in those. Also, regarding Naruto's past, I hate to make Minato sound like a douche, but I needed some explanation for Naruto being an orphan...

So, a few more things I must mention: If anyone remembers how Naruto lost that hardly mentioned job that he had at some carplace because he skipped work while he was being a wasted couch potato, he got a new job somewhere after everything was resolved. I forgot to include it because it isn't essential to the plot at all, but it's just if anyone was wondering how the hell Naruto is sustaining himself. He's got financial aid for college expenses, though, btw.

And if you're thinking, wow, syrup and lube? Man, they got kinky fast! Whoever said that they are getting kinky? Sakura is just making assumptions. Why wouldn't Naruto have syrup underneath his bed? I mean…he's Naruto. A version of Naruto that tends to drink heavily, no less.

If anyone remembers, the chest was briefly mentioned in chapter 16, so it isn't completely random. It was a minute detail, though, so I'd be surprised if anyone actually remembered. The same applies to the half-heart, it was mentioned in chapter 9. And, that is all for now, I believe. Sorry for the lateness! I don't know why I bother apologizing though because every chapter I have posted ever is always super late...anyway, please review! :3


	24. Atlas

Two updates in the span of a month? I must be on crack. So I'm going to try something out this chapter which a reader suggested to me. I'm going to briefly summarize the story, since 1. my story is very long, 2. my chapters are very long, and 3. I take forever to update. Please tell me if you found the summary to be helpful!

The Plot in a Nutshell: Naruto met Sasuke through a dare involving getting him to smile, which led to Sasuke becoming Naruto's tutor and later, his friend. Meanwhile, Itachi broke out of prison and returned to the city. After Sakura broke up with Naruto, the two grew closer until they developed strong romantic feelings for each other. When Tsunade's party rolled around, Naruto asked Sasuke to be his cross-dressing date, and they shared their first kiss at the party. Due to denying their feelings and Sasuke's emotional handicap, they got into a huge fight, which nearly destroyed their relationship but eventually led to them getting together. Their relationship began well, they move in together, but Sasuke's tormented past soon interferes. While on a date at the fair, Naruto saw Itachi, who was assumed to have left the city, but refrains from notifying Sasuke as Sasuke would have wished. When Sasuke discovers that, he blows up at Naruto and kicks him out of their dorm...

Also, everyone must check out ForgetItAgain's lovely Smile fanart! The link is on my profile, so go click it! :3

**SMILE  
**

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto or anything related to it, sadly.

_Warnings: _more angst (?), NejiTen, **sex**, freakishly long chapters, emotional stuff, more Crazy!Sasuke, and a good old fashioned mindfuck

_Please review! :)_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: ATLAS**

The black and white images on the screen moved, immersed in a world which had not yet discovered color, the light emitting from the screen illuminating the dark room. The corners of the room were barely touched by the light, but Neji and Tenten were encompassed by the glow, their faces painted a bluish white by it. The only sound was the hum of the voices coming from the screen, which were reduced to a whisper because they had kept the volume low. To them, the circle of light in which they sat, in the midst of the darkness of Neji's bare, spacious room, seemed as if it had become the world suspended in the void of space. Although they sat close to each other, a definite gap separated them. Neji turned his attention away from the screen and glanced to his side to look at Tenten, whose chocolate eyes were alight as she watched the screen intently. After several moments, his stare became tangible; she felt it gliding over the lines of her face and the curve of her neck. She turned her head toward Neji, to meet his distinctive eyes, her glance almost questioning. Inevitably, her lips slowly formed into a smile, which, although small and contained, conveyed an unmistakable happiness whose reach extended to her glittering eyes. Neji's lips could not help but mirror her own.

A sudden knock at the door invaded their seclusion, rupturing what had been their own world. Neji looked away from Tenten and turned toward the noise. After a moment, a crevice formed between his door and the wall which allowed a thin strip of bright, yellow light to enter the room. A butler stood at the door, his manner polite and his countenance somewhat apologetic for the disturbance. "Mr. Hyuuga, Naruto is in the foyer, requesting your presence."

Neji stared at the butler for a moment, his prolonged gaze proof of his surprise, although it did not show in his expression. "Thank you. Tell him that I will be there in a moment," Neji said, excusing the butler. He tilted his head downward in a slight bow before exiting the room and closing the door quietly.

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Neji had dug out his cell phone from his pocket and glanced at the time. It was nearly midnight. An unsettling feeling filled him, flowing through his veins, telling him, instinctively, that something must have gone wrong with Sasuke. Neji had angled his body toward the door, his back to Tenten, and had momentarily forgotten her presence. He twisted to face her, to see her look at him with concern evident in her expressive eyes, to know that she knew as well. He sighed quietly, turned back toward the door, and stood. After taking a few steps away from the couch, he glanced at Tenten, who was watching him attentively. "I'll go see what's wrong. You should wait here," he suggested, although it was understood to be a gentle command. Tenten nodded and Neji exited the room.

He walked briskly down the many halls of his home, toward the main entrance. The disquieting emotion which had permeated him was now accumulating in the pit of his stomach. Lately, he had not seen his good friend as often as he had in the past, since the amount of time that he spent with Tenten and Naruto with Sasuke was augmenting steadily. Even so, Neji knew that he remained the person whom Naruto turned to when in need of support. Finally, Neji reached the main stairs; Naruto entered his vision as he descended them swiftly. The blond stood in the center of the foyer, evidently listless even from a distance. His arms dangled at his sides uselessly; he seemed purposeless and lost in the overwhelmingly large room. As Neji drew closer, Naruto took notice of him and lifted his head slightly, his unconcealed expression laying bare all of the apprehension, the guilt, and the fatigue within him alongside the palpable despondency.

Neji halted once he stood directly in front of him and waited for him to speak. Naruto looked at him for a moment, with futile hope in his clouded eyes, as if he wished that Neji could comprehend everything immediately upon glancing at him, so that he would not be forced to speak of it. He averted his darkened eyes. "I'm sorry," Naruto began, his voice husky and low, "I know it's late, but I didn't know where else to go." After a short pause, he added, "I had nowhere else to go."

"What happened?" Neji asked, despite already having some idea, subtle concern laced in his tone.

"Sasuke kicked me out," he stated simply, yet somberly. "So I need a place to stay for the night." He glanced downward, as if he would have been embarrassed if he had not been preoccupied with being dismal.

"You know that you're always welcome in my home," Neji responded with a comforting look.

Naruto lifted his gaze and met Neji's cream eyes. "Thank you," he said earnestly. Despite Neji's usual calm temperament, for a moment, he found himself being dragged down by Naruto's tumultuous, cerulean eyes. The sound of soft footsteps behind him caused Neji to tear his eyes away from Naruto and glance over his shoulder. Tenten approached, walking down the stairs, having evidently disregarded Neji's request due to impatient concern. Briefly, Naruto seemed to grow more attentive, not having expected Tenten's presence, although his demeanor soon regained its insipidness. She halted before him, gazing at him with apparent worry.

At first, all that she saw was his tremendous desolation; the thin, unsmiling line of his mouth, his downcast eyes, the slight slouching of his shoulders. Upon closer inspection, with his tan arms revealed, the butler having taken his jacket when he entered, Tenten noticed the light bruises on his skin. She was tempted to exchange glances with Neji, to confirm that he had taken note of it, but she assumed that he had spotted the bruises and had chosen to say nothing. She decided not to mention them as well. "Naruto, are you okay?" She asked, looking up at him.

"I don't want to lie," he replied.

Tenten frowned slightly, though she did not know why; it was not as if she had expected an affirmative response. "Is there anything that I can do for you?" She inquired sincerely, gently placing her hand on his arm.

"I just need to talk to Neji, if that's alright," Naruto said, not quite meeting her eyes. He glanced at Neji, who returned his stare with a composed expression, his strange eyes constant and reassuring. Naruto turned his attention to Tenten when he felt her hand leave his arm.

"That's fine," she responded, and sounded as though she meant it. "I'll just be in the living room, watching some TV," she told Neji, who gave her a look that was the equivalent of a nod. Tenten turned around and walked toward the large black, sofa that was a short distance away. For a moment, Neji watched her as she walked away, and then he turned to face Naruto.

"Let's go to my room," Neji said, and then began to walk toward the stairs.

Naruto followed obediently; it was his only response, he remained silent as he dragged his feet up the massive staircase. With countless turns and passages that seemed to lead nowhere, he felt as if the halls had become a maze in which he was trapped. All the years that he had spent at the Hyuuga mansion, familiarizing himself with it in the process, were lost as he was plagued by disorientation. Naruto thought that his pace had remained constant, but somehow the distance between himself and Neji was gradually increasing. He continued to follow Neji, his white shirt like a guiding beacon in the dim halls, as he tried to preclude the desolation which threatened to engulf him. He envisioned himself standing outside of his dorm, in the vacant eternity of the hall, incredulous and powerless.

Naruto halted when he found himself standing outside of the open door that was the entrance to Neji's room. For several moments, he merely stared into the large, elegant room, with pure white carpet and walls which contrasted with the dark wood of his furniture. Neji sat on his long, curved couch, his room now illuminated by various lights instead of the dull glow of the television. Naruto entered the room, making sure to shut the door behind him, and approached the couch. As soon as he had taken a seat beside Neji, the Hyuuga heir turned toward him, holding his gaze with his own grave one.

"I'll ask you again," he began; his tone was firm, but far from being harsh. "What happened? And this time, I want all the details. You'll have to provide them, Naruto, if you want me to be able to help you. Why did Sasuke throw you out?"

Naruto sighed somberly, although there was a hint of frustration in his groan, and glanced downward. "It's complicated. I don't even think that I understand the reasons behind it, if there were any at all. He wasn't acting reasonable…" He trailed off, momentarily losing himself to the rush of thoughts and images within his own mind as he tried to put everything he had witnessed, everything that he had felt, together well enough in order to explain it to another person. Neji offered no vocal indication that he was listening, although his intense stare was a more than sufficient response. "And what weapon do I have to argue against him with, if I don't have reason? Even though this entire situation does have to do with me and my actions, I feel like most of it deals with Sasuke's past, that I don't have any part in, and that I can't do anything about." He paused as he mused briefly. "Well, maybe I do have a part in it. Sasuke's past has been catching up to him lately." As he spoke, his eyes had been downcast, only glancing at Neji occasionally through the corners of his vision. Now, he turned to face him, although he avoided looking at him directly for too long. "I don't know if you've been watching the news, but the police have confirmed that Itachi has returned to the city, that is, if he ever left. Sasuke saw this on the news tonight. I had actually known that Itachi was in the city, but I kept it from him. I saw him about two weeks ago, at a fair. Sasuke didn't see him, though; I tried to make sure of that. So, I turned off the TV. God, Neji, you should have seen the way he looked at the screen." A desperate, incredulous edge became evident in his voice as he recalled the indescribable image.

"He went completely berserk on me. It was like nothing that I had ever seen from him. I mean, it's not as if I didn't know that part of him existed, but…I was scared to see that side of him come out. I feared for his sanity, his safety… I feel like I don't truly know him, and I'm disappointed in myself for that. I thought that I had expected something like this, that I could handle it, but I don't know, somehow seeing it play out in reality instead of in my own head was a lot different. I hate to see Sasuke like that…I want to help him, but I'm afraid that I can't. He was being so cruel, so heartless…" Naruto's voice quivered as he struggled to maintain some degree of composure, to restrain the vehement emotions which swirled within him. Despite his efforts, sincerity and pain were palpable in his voice during the entire time in which he spoke. After staring at the ground for a few moments, he turned to Neji, his blue eyes expressive, seeking solace.

"I don't doubt that, Naruto, but allow me to remind you that Sasuke lived in a mental institution for several years. Don't forget that such traumatic events do not just disappear. I understand your desire to help him, but there is only so much that you can do. Don't blame yourself. You shouldn't attempt to shoulder such a large burden alone; you may very well collapse beneath its weight."

"It almost sounds like you're telling me to give up, Neji. And I know it seems like I did, by coming here, instead of staying at the door all night. But I can't just give up entirely, even though I know that I can't do much of anything to help him. I feel so powerless, so useless. I had thought that being at his side might be enough, that I could make him forget about his past by filling his present with happiness. I had thought that Sasuke and I were connected in our loneliness. But everything that I had thought has been proven wrong. I guess I could never understand his pain." The last sentence which he uttered was a murmur, his voice having grown progressively lower as he spoke.

"I'm not advising you to surrender, Naruto. Of course you can't give up on Sasuke, but you need to remember to be reasonable. What you ask of him is something that seems nearly impossible. If you wish to help him, focus your efforts on trying to help him cope rather than forget. And the best way to accomplish that is by remaining at his side, regardless of whether you understand him completely. Perhaps you are not as useless as you believe. You are the only one who is capable of staying at his side. Although he may have lapses in judgment, Sasuke does care for you, you know."

"I do know that, but…You don't know how difficult it is to stay at his side sometimes. Like today, like that fight after the party, he just pushes me away. Don't get me wrong, though, I would never leave him, I'm just saying that…it's hard sometimes, Nej. I thought that our relationship was so strong, and now I realize that it's so fragile, so breakable. And I don't want it to be broken. It took me months to get this close to him, to where I am today, or at least where I was a few hours ago. It took so long, but it only takes a few seconds to destroy it." Naruto halted speaking in favor of pensive contemplation.

"You're implying that your relationship with Sasuke has been destroyed," Neji stated after allowing a few moments of silence between them. "I don't think that's true. The influence you have over him is undeniable. The emotions which you evoke from him, whether they are positive or negative in nature, are vehement. Even if your relationship has been damaged, there is definitely something worth salvaging there." His words struck Naruto at his core, not because they provoked an epiphany, but because they were an echo of words that he had already heard, that had been uttered by Sakura; those words had been planted within him like a seed, had grown, and had eventually incited him to repair his relationship with Sasuke in the past. A heavy silence lingered in the air, and Neji said nothing to break it. He observed Naruto intently, absorbing every slight movement, the slow shifting of his eyes, the anxious movement of his fingers, as he waited for more words that would inevitably come.

"Neji," Naruto started, as he finally turned to look at him directly. His countenance was completely exposed, unshielded by the cloak of his golden hair, his blue eyes susceptible, pained, and pleading gently. When he spoke, his voice remained level, but his diction revealed his feelings despite that. "Do you think that I did the right thing, to keep what I knew about Itachi from Sasuke? I'm not a coward for coming here, am I?"

"In some cases, the line separating right and wrong is not well-defined. It's not that simple, Naruto. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, though, because you only had good intentions."

Naruto averted his gaze, somewhat unsatisfied with an abstract answer, even if it did contain elements of truth. His eyes, which had been filled with hopeful expectation, began to take on water, likening them further to the ocean whose color they mimicked. The exasperation due to the situation itself and his incapability, the apprehension concerning Sasuke and his psychological state, and the anguish of having Sasuke regard him so hatefully piled upon one another until Naruto felt as if his shoulders were about to break, with a sickening snap as his bones cracked. Consequently, his entire being would be crushed. Once more he found himself standing in the hallway outside his and Sasuke's dorm, banished, becoming swallowed by the overpowering emptiness, like a black hole consuming any resilience that still existed within him. _I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, _he repeated in his mind, unaware that he was soon mumbling the sentence aloud.

When he felt a hand on his shoulder, gripping it reassuringly, he lifted his head to see Neji's soothing countenance, which seemed in that moment to be eternally frozen in equanimity, like a Grecian sculpture. Naruto had forgotten his presence as he teetered precariously close to the edge of an emotional collapse. Neji led him away from the verge and reminded him that he was sitting on a couch in the serene stillness of Neji's room.

"Try to make up with Sasuke in the morning," Neji recommended, "It's getting pretty late."

Naruto glanced at his cell phone, noting that it was one in the morning. The practicality of reality seemed to still be sinking in. He remembered that it was a week night, that tomorrow he had to go through the motions of life. He merely nodded in response to Neji's statement and stood up, feeling as if nothing had been resolved within himself. Neji stood as well.

"Naruto," he called, to catch his attention. The said boy turned to look at him languidly. "Your relationship with Sasuke is stronger than you think. Remember what I said, the best thing that you can do to help him is to stay by him. Sasuke needs another who is persistent to the point of idiocy." A slight, sober smile played at the corners of his thin lips. "If you want a more concrete suggestion than that, one that makes you feel as if you're doing something differently, perhaps you should take Sasuke out of town for a weekend. Leaving Konoha City momentarily, the setting of the defining moment of his life, may do him some good. It's something that would do you good as well, Naruto."

"Alright," Naruto agreed, although, at that moment, he was not seriously considering Neji's proposal. His mind was becoming tired, from all the thoughts which had recklessly raced through it, as well as his body.

Neji chose not to comment on the unconvinced nature of Naruto's voice. "Go to sleep. If you don't mind sleeping alone, I can have a guest room prepared for you," he offered kindly.

Naruto looked away nonchalantly, fearing that his eyes would betray him. "I don't mind."

The door closed with a gentle creak, Neji disappearing behind it, leaving Naruto in the pitch darkness of the guest room which had been promised to him. Naruto lay on his side, the blanket pulled up to his chin, his eyes open despite his inability to see. The blackness which surrounded him disconnected him from the world, causing him to retreat into his mind. It served as a cushion between himself and reality, isolating him even from Sasuke. He imagined that the bond which connected them had been severed on Sasuke's side; he felt as if he would not be able to reach him, even if he extended his arm and grabbed him, even if he screamed his name. He wondered what Sasuke was doing, what he was feeling, in that moment. Naruto gripped the sheets of the bed lightly, succumbing to his longing for Sasuke, having grown accustomed to sleeping beside him; he had gotten used to the feeling of Sasuke's warm body against his own, the scent of him which filled his nostrils with every breath he took, the sight of him in the morning as soon as he opened his eyes. Every emotion which he had tried to control in Neji's presence hit him like a flash flood and drowned him. Naruto offered no resistance, allowing himself to sink to the bottom of the metaphorical river, and wondered if he was capable of doing anything that could save Sasuke from his hate.

Naruto moved his hand, which had formerly lain deathly still, much like the rest of his body. He touched his fingers to the light bruises on his arm, feeling the dull pain, and then closed his eyes.

* * *

After he had flung Naruto into the hallway, after he had shut the door harshly in his face and locked it with his trembling fingers, Sasuke had stumbled toward the other end of the room, away from the door, breathing heavily. He was filled with an uncontrollable anger which suffocated him, that possessed him like a demon, controlling his body like a puppet, reducing him to a malevolent semblance of himself. Once he reached the opposite end of the room, he gripped the edge of his desk tightly, the sharp corner digging into his skin, but his mind did not register the pain. He felt as if he would fall, as if he would die, if he let go of the edge. The world around him seemed to whirl; the erratic beating of his heart became the only thing that he could hear for several moments. Vaguely, he heard someone speaking, but it sounded as if the voice was a great distant away, or as if it was the whispering of his subconscious. The voice grew louder, overcoming the pounding of his heart, and he realized that it was his brother calling his name.

Sasuke's obsidian eyes widened considerably. He gripped the edge of the desk tighter for a second before loosening his grip significantly, and then letting go completely. Slowly, he turned around, and found that he was looking up at the face of his brother; the face which haunted his dreams, which his own face resembled to the point that it sickened him; the face which was often contorted grotesquely into an inhuman lack of expression. Yet the Itachi which had appeared before him wore a subtle smile, one free of malice and scorn, on a pleasant countenance. To anyone who was not Sasuke, to anyone who had not spent years growing up alongside him, the slight difference between expressions would be indistinguishable. He became fully aware of the extent to which that face had been painfully engraved in his mind.

_You're going to be late for school if you keep on dilly-dallying, Sasuke, _Itachi said. The fact that he was smiling would be evident upon merely hearing his voice. Sasuke stared at him blankly, caught somewhere between bewilderment and trepidation. Itachi chuckled very lightly, his voice deep and almost musical. _Come on, _he told him, _or do I have to carry you? _He extended his arm toward Sasuke, who stared at it for a few seconds before reaching out to grab his brother's hand with hesitance. His fingertips made contact with the smooth wood of a frame. He found himself holding the photo of himself and Naruto which had sat on his night table. He stared at it, his mind whirling instead of the world around him now. As he wondered what was happening to him, if he was mentally sound, he continued to stare at the photo without truly seeing it. After gazing at it for an extended period of time, he managed to collect his jumbled thoughts enough to focus on the picture which he held.

He ignored the image of himself completely in favor of the smiling, radiant, image of Naruto. That smile planted his feet back onto his ground, wiped his mind of its immense confusion, enough to completely realize what had just happened, enough to understand the gravity of what he had done. The photo fell from his hand and onto the floor as he nearly doubled over. He gripped the edge of his night table, feeling like he was about to gag, as if his body was trying to reject the anger and irrationality which had seized him earlier. The discarded image of Naruto lay on the floor, becoming inconsequential as his thoughts turned to the Naruto which was tangible. Sasuke forced himself to stand and threw open the door. He staggered into the hallway, into the emptiness, stepping beyond the boundaries of his universe. The dim lights which illuminated the halls flickered above his head. It was silent, frightening, and vacant. Naruto was not there.

A sudden panic came over him as he wondered where Naruto could have gone, if he had even exiled him to the hall, if they had even lived together in the first place. He looked around with a frantic edge to his disposition, hoping that his eyes would land on a golden head. A great relief washed over him the instant that he spotted Naruto at the end of the hall, nothing more than a tall silhouette from that distance. He made a move to approach him, but he froze once Naruto stepped out of the darkness which had concealed him. His tanned skin had been burned off him, revealing the red flesh beneath it. Abruptly, Naruto began to scream, the disturbing noise being the embodiment of torment; Naruto was engulfed by inextinguishable black flames which were burning him alive. Sasuke watched with horror that rendered him immobile. He knew that it was not Itachi who had done this, like last time, in that dream that he could no longer distinguish from reality. It was his doing.

The terror of that knowledge sent him running back into his room, away from the mangled form of Naruto, which he knew was not real, yet afflicted him as though it had been so. Sasuke found himself standing in his bathroom, looking into the mirror, seeing the image of his brother where he should have seen himself. We are not only united by blood, by looks, he thought, no, there is something else there, some capacity, some darkness. He stared at the dark, bloodstained eyes of his brother for so long that they warped into his own coal ones. He regarded his reflection as a whole; he looked disheveled, disturbed, and exhausted. For the first time, he realized the extent of his fatigue; it had suppressed any remnants of emotions such as fury, confusion, and desolation that he may have had.

He exited the bathroom, uncomfortable with the eerie silence of his room, uncomfortable in his own skin. His surroundings suddenly seemed strange to him, as if he had returned from a prolonged absence. He remembered how barren his room had been, when it had been solely his; now splashes of color touched the room in the form of Naruto's belongings. A sinking feeling that nearly dragged Sasuke down into despair was evoked by the reminder of him; but his weariness was so potent that it did not allow much room for other feelings. He moved toward his bed, noting that it was three in the morning as his eyes passed over his digital clock, and collapsed onto it.

He closed his eyes for several moments, his eyelids feeling extremely heavy, but then he forced himself to open them once more before he lost himself to the shadow of death. He stared at the space where the photo should have been, instead of on the floor, its absence affecting him more profoundly than its presence would have. A final, clear thought entered his mind.

_No matter what I do, I can't forget about him. How could you ask me to?_

Sasuke closed his eyes.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes.

The thin slivers of light which managed to slip through the cracks of the curtains landed on his face, brightening rectangular patches of his skin. Although only a few strands of defined light were permitted to enter the room, it was not pitch black except for the areas which the light touched; the glow of the early morning sun permeated the thin material of the curtains which covered the windows, dying the room the grey color of twilight. The incandescence had woken him, the unconscious recognition that night was transforming into day, which meant that he would soon have to face reality once more. He blinked slowly, looking up at the ceiling as he lay on his back, the blankets twisted around him in a mess. He waited for the sound of the city awakening to fill his ears, of the cars which were on the street at the crack of dawn, of the people already milling about on the sidewalks below. He was greeted only by the sound of the careless chirping of the birds. Naruto stared at the ceiling for several minutes, unmoving, as he thought of the empty spot beside him.

The door emitted a small creak as it opened; he angled his head, so that it was in his line of vision, to see Tenten peaking into the room through the crevice. Their eyes met and she opened the door all the way, taking a step into the room. The sunlight which filled the hall flooded into it, causing it to seem as if a bright aura surrounded Tenten as she stood in the doorway. Naruto sat up and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, her voice soft, "I didn't mean to wake you. I just wanted to check on you."

"What time is it?" Was his only response, his voice hoarse and still containing a twinge of sorrow.

"It's almost eight," she replied. "Don't you have class today?"

"I do." He wondered whether or not he should attend his class in the afternoon today. His tired body, his weary mind, told him to remain in bed, to allow himself some time to properly wallow in his sadness; but the rational aspect of his mind murmured that he could not be missing class so early in the semester, despite what he may feel. He thought of the matter for a moment longer, before abandoning it unresolved.

"Does Sasuke have class today?" Tenten asked.

"He does," Naruto responded impassively, unwilling to volunteer anymore information.

"When?"

"In the morning."

He grew somewhat sullen, comprehending her purpose in asking him such questions. Through her innocent inquiries, she was forcing him to think about when he should attempt to approach Sasuke. He had no desire to think about that, although it was not as if he had not already been thinking of it. That morning was only unique in the respect that his every thought he had since he awoke could trace itself back to Sasuke, and each was laced with gloom; regardless of the circumstances of their relationship, though, Sasuke was always the first thing that entered his mind in the morning. His thoughts progressed toward worry for Sasuke's well-being; he wondered if Sasuke had slept through the night, or if he had spent it in distress. In that moment, he wished more than ever that he had not decided to leave, not because of any abstract ideas such as pride or determination, but so that he could have ensured that Sasuke would be alive and well.

Tenten noticed the brooding, preoccupied look which had been cast over his face and decided that it was time to take her leave. "You should get dressed. Neji is waiting for you downstairs. I'm off to work. Good luck, Naruto." He nodded absentmindedly in response and she exited the room, leaving the door open.

Naruto did not move for some time. He stared at nothing in particular, focusing his eyes on a single area until the edges of his vision became blurred. The previous night's events flowed back to him, struck him forcefully, submerged him, and carried him away until they surrounded him to the point that he could not escape. He fought back the tears which threatened to spill from his eyes. Locks of his golden hair protruded from the spaces in between his fingers as he gripped his face, his body trembling with the effort of controlling the urge to sob. Unable to prevent it, a few tears slid down his cheek.

_No matter what, I can't lose you, Sasuke._

* * *

The stillness of the room was one that could only belong to inanimate objects, which have not life, yet Sasuke managed to mimic its immobility disturbingly well. During the day, as he had mindlessly completed his routine, going to class, doing his homework, he moved like a corpse which had been temporarily reanimated, carrying that stillness, which was derived from his silent terror, within him. With nothing to occupy him any longer, he sat quietly in a chair in his room which gave the impression that the universe was static. His mind, unlike his body, did not remain motionless, although it did not move with wild speed as it had the previous night. His thoughts progressed slowly from one to the other as he deliberated extensively on each. The lack of motion in the room caused him to reflect on how motion was irrevocably associated with life and vitality, which he had grown to irrevocably associate with Naruto, which in turn led him to notice the lack of Naruto.

Due to the short winter days, the sun had almost finished its descent although it was the mere late afternoon; darkness began to emerge and engulf the Earth as the orange glow of the sun receded. He wondered, without any visible sign of emotion, whether he would be spending another night alone. After several more minutes of contemplation, Sasuke realized that he was waiting for Naruto to return to their room. _He won't come_, he thought, not as a pessimistic submission, but as a statement of a fact. _Why would he come, after I had treated him like that? I wouldn't. _The flow of his thoughts halted for a moment. _But Naruto certainly is not me_, he stated mentally. The self-loathing which the thought incited was nullified by the pale splash of hope caused by the same thought. That sudden hint of hope, which he had lost, though he acknowledged that he had felt it briefly, made him realize that he was not merely waiting to see if Naruto would return with indifference, but that he wanted him to return.

The insight ended the suspension of his emotions, replacing the stillness within him with a churning motion. The implications of the previous night returned to him, although this time he did not collapse; he sat rigidly, as if he intended to endure them to the best of his ability. The wrath which he had felt toward Naruto had dissipated as he slept in a state which resembled unconsciousness more than rest, replaced in the morning by a latent horror which fully emerged from hiding in that moment. A slight panic came over him as he confronted the fear of having lost another bond; a bond that could rival the one which had existed between himself and his brother.

A knock at the door pulled him out of his stupor, causing him to become alert and his heart rate to accelerate. Sasuke struggled against the faint hope which dared to return, even though he knew that there could be no one else at his door. Cautiously, Sasuke detached himself from his chair and approached the door, switching on the light once he noticed that he had been sitting in darkness. Tentatively, Sasuke opened the door to find Naruto standing there. He looked at him, at his golden hair, his tanned skin, and his brilliant, blue eyes, and found himself reliving the night two months ago when their relationship had become reality. Although, undeniably, there had always been something significant between them, that night was when they had acknowledged it openly and accepted it.

"Can I come in?" Naruto asked, his voice low, when he was met with nothing but an unrevealing stare from Sasuke.

Sasuke gazed at him for a moment longer before averting his eyes and stepping aside to grant him entrance. "You live here, you don't need to ask."

Naruto laughed lightly and humorlessly in response as he walked into the room. "I needed to ask last night when you kicked me out," he pointed out, without spite or self-pity in his words, once he stood in the center of the room.

Sasuke closed the door, took a step toward Naruto, and halted. Their conversation was familiar, yet strained; it had a casual air when they should have been speaking intimately. He wondered why they had gotten into a fight this time, although he knew the reason; he wondered how many more times this would happen, and how it would be his own fault for being incapable of handling his emotions, either by suppressing them, or doing so to the point that they would erupt from the pressure of holding them within himself. Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto.

"Where did you stay?" He asked. He prevented concern from being heard in his voice, but the fact that he uttered such a question proved that he felt it.

"Neji's."

Sasuke merely nodded and glanced downward.

After a few moments of silence and of feeling the weight of Naruto's gaze, Sasuke blurted, "I shouldn't have kicked you out." Although it was not an exact apology, it functioned as one. Naruto's countenance changed; some façade which he had been upholding had faltered, though his expression had not been much different from the somber one which was expected. "I was being too rash," he added.

"I understand that. Neither of us was right or wrong in our actions. I do apologize, though, for not having told you about, you know, your brother," Naruto whispered as he gazed at Sasuke earnestly. His large eyes seemed simultaneously vulnerable and strong, as if he was willing to take anything that Sasuke threw at him without defending himself, but enduring it instead. Sasuke broke eye contact with him, glancing to the side, when he discerned that the feeling those eyes evoked in him was remorse.

"You really should have told me," he murmured without reproach.

"I know, Sasuke, I realize that now. Believe me, I debated for hours in my mind on whether or not I should tell you. Part of me wanted to, thought that you had the right to know, but the part of me that was scared for your safety, that was worried about you, overpowered the other part. Please, Sasuke, I was just doing what I thought was the best. I realize now that I was wrong. I hope that you can understand where I'm coming from. It's not that I doubt your mental strength, it's just that I didn't want to take any chances. I didn't know how you would react, or what you would do. I thought that by shielding you from what I knew, I could keep you happy with me…" Naruto trailed off, not for a lack of things to say—he seemed as if he could pour his heart out on the subject for hours on end—but because his voice quivered progressively with emotion as he spoke, until it rendered him unable to utter another word in fear that the levee retaining his emotions would break. His clear, blue eyes became clouded with unshed tears; he bowed his head, his hair falling into his eyes, the motion causing a few tears to escape, but other than that, he made no effort to hide his weakness.

Sasuke watched him uncertainly; although with every tremble of Naruto's body, his clenched fists, the thin, frowning line of his mouth, as he fought to repress his tears and with every tear that slid across his cheek, a sharp, stabbing pain struck Sasuke, he did not know what to do to relieve both of their anguish. When he could not take the sight any longer, he said almost gently, "Naruto, I don't want to see you cry."

Naruto grew stiffer for a moment, his shaking having halted, before relaxing, his fists unfurling, and lifting his head. He gazed at Sasuke, his eyes watery, but the threat of his tears spilling was no longer imminent. He looked at Sasuke as if he had said much more than a simple statement, as if it was the greatest confession of love that he had ever heard. Naruto whispered Sasuke's name as he closed the space separating them. He kissed him with a mixture of controlled desperation and passion, his lips pressing firmly, yet softly, against those of Sasuke. Naruto wrapped his arms around him in an embrace, and Sasuke responded by gripping the fabric of his boyfriend's shirt and returning the kiss. As their lips began to move more quickly and forcefully, Naruto pinned Sasuke to the wall, pressing their bodies together. When they could no longer lock lips due to a lack of breath, Naruto pulled slightly away from Sasuke, their parted lips remaining close, and panted lightly. Naruto moved his hands from Sasuke's torso to his face, gripping it tightly enough to the point that it did not qualify as a caress; he held him as if Sasuke would disappear if he did not do so, and as if that was his greatest fear. Sasuke's half-opened coal eyes stared into his own, and after looking into them for a moment longer, Naruto covered Sasuke's mouth with his own once more.

The sensation of Sasuke's smooth lips as they moved against his own, of his warm body as it pressed into his own, of his slender fingers as they traveled across his skin, overwhelmed him until his tactile sense was the only one left to him. He told himself that he could not lose those sensations, that kind of intimacy with Sasuke, and that he would never let Sasuke go. Naruto's hands slipped beneath Sasuke's shirt and he ran them over his pale skin as if he intended to memorize the feel of every inch of it in apprehension that he would not be given the chance again. The fear mingled with the love from which it was derived, causing the tears to fight their way back to his eyes and causing him to feel like he would burst if he attempted to contain them, or the three words he had neglected to say yet, any longer. Naruto broke the kiss somewhat abruptly, buried his face into Sasuke's shoulder, and began to sob into it lightly, clutching the sleeves of Sasuke's sweater as he did so.

"I can't lose you, Sasuke. I love you too much," Naruto confessed through his quiet weeping, his voice thick with emotion.

Sasuke's eyes widened and his heart seemed to stop rather than accelerate. He admitted to himself that he had always known, by the way that Naruto looked at him, kissed him, and touched him, yet if that was the case he wondered why hearing what they had always communicated silently affected him so profoundly. To have it said aloud, to hear those simple words, he realized, made what was implied through their actions seem finalized and tangible. For a brief moment, Sasuke wondered when the last time that anyone had said such a thing to him was, but then he prevented his thoughts from wandering there. His only response was to hold Naruto tighter. When Naruto lifted his head from Sasuke's shoulder to look at him, his eyes, which were both heartbreaking and endearing, captivated Sasuke. He dug one of his hands into Naruto's blond hair, pulling his head toward him so that he could lock lips with him fervently.

Sasuke opened his mouth slightly as they kissed; Naruto accepted his invitation and slipped his tongue into it. The kiss was passionate, though subdued and intimate, rather than intense and hard. Naruto moved his lips from Sasuke's mouth to his neck and began to suck on it. Sasuke moaned breathily, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. Their bodies were pressed together to the point that Sasuke could clearly feel Naruto's erection straining against his jeans. Sasuke slid one of his hands down Naruto's body until it rested over Naruto's crotch. Both he and Naruto were surprised by his uncharacteristic boldness, which, unbeknown to Naruto, resulted from his desire to express what Naruto had said to him without having to reiterate his words, because he still found himself unable to say them aloud.

Naruto pulled away from him, so suddenly that it was nearly rough, and took off his sweater and the shirt beneath it so that the alabaster skin of his torso was completely exposed. He kissed and licked down Sasuke's body, starting at his lips, moving to his neck from there, and ending once he reached the spot below his navel and above his jeans. Now on his knees, Naruto unbuttoned Sasuke's pants and pulled them, along with Sasuke's boxers, down enough to reveal what he was looking for. When he felt Naruto's hand wrapped around his erection firmly and the wet touch of his lips and tongue, Sasuke let out a gasp that was nearly a moan. He allowed his eyelids to droop, his eyes becoming clouded, as he lost himself to Naruto's touch. After several moments, the haze which had settled over his mind cleared enough to enable him to assemble coherent thoughts. He realized that he was the one who was receiving the majority of the pleasure, as usual. Sasuke grew frustrated with himself.

"Naruto," he called breathily, yet clearly, in order to catch the said boy's attention. Naruto responded by halting and opening his cerulean eyes to glance upward at Sasuke, who offered no explanation for suddenly saying his name. Instead, he bent down so that he could capture Naruto's wet lips. Naruto buried one of his hands into Sasuke's raven hair, moaning quietly as Sasuke slid his tongue into his mouth. They fell to the floor, with Sasuke landing on top of Naruto, pressing their hips together. Naruto gripped Sasuke's arm, flipped him over roughly, so that he hovered over him now, and gazed intensely into Sasuke's dark eyes. Through the desirous, amorous look in his eyes, Sasuke could discern a hint of a question. Whatever Naruto had seen in Sasuke's regard seemed to have answered his query; he moved away from his boyfriend for a moment to reach beneath the bed, returning with a bottle in hand.

Naruto saw Sasuke's eyes shift to the bottle; his face was flushed, his hair was disheveled, and his were lips parted as he panted lightly. He seemed to be waiting for him, nearly beckoning him to follow through the course of his actions. Naruto placed the bottle aside momentarily, in order to lean forward to brush his lips tenderly against those of Sasuke. Although the kiss was filled with ardor, Sasuke felt as if it contained a twinge of residual sadness, which Naruto had accidentally allowed to slip through his passion. He recalled the past day filled with agony that he had almost forgotten in the heat of the moment. Sasuke realized that they were not only confessing their mutual love in the act which they were committing, but that they were apologizing to and forgiving each other more completely than they could with words. He kissed Naruto as if he wished to withdraw the remaining sorrow from him.

Naruto broke the kiss and flipped Sasuke over so that he was facing downward. Sasuke stared at the blue carpet before him in anticipation, hearing the sound of Naruto removing his shirt and unbuckling his belt, and soon after feeling Naruto's cool fingers slide into him. Sasuke closed his eyes and bit his lip as he grew accustomed to the sensation, which was becoming decreasingly unfamiliar and painful. When Naruto entered him, he suppressed a grunt of pain, although it was a tolerable, dull pain, unlike the one which had rippled through his body the first time. Naruto moaned without reserve as he thrust his hips, gently at first, then faster and harder as he found himself unwilling to restrain himself. He was encouraged by the noises that Sasuke was making; he was panting, with quiet moans strewn throughout his breathing, and no sound he made resembled one of pain. Sasuke dug his nails into the carpet, his body trembling from having to support himself as well as with pleasure. That overwhelming pleasure, which had once seemed out of his reach, now filled his entire body as Naruto struck that spot within him over and over again. As Naruto moved his hips steadily, the pleasure within Sasuke accumulated until it was almost unbearable; it flooded his mind and wiped out any other thought or sensation that he may have had. He moaned uninhibitedly as he finished, Naruto following suit soon afterward.

They collapsed alongside each other on the floor, each facing the other. Naruto smiled at Sasuke, almost with an air of triumph, along with happiness, causing his whisker marks on his lightly tinted cheeks to curve upward. Sasuke could not help but smile in return to the sight he loved the most. He turned so that they both faced the same direction and their bodies could fit into each other. Naruto wrapped his arms around him, entwined their fingers; they lay there for some time, hovering close to sleep. Through his half-closed eyes, he could see the pale, smooth skin of Sasuke's back and the matted mess of his black hair. He longed to see the face which he had first taken notice of several months ago, which he had thought of as the face of a friend, which had become the face of the person whom he loved, but he did not wish to disturb him. Although Sasuke's countenance had remained the same, except for softening toward him, Naruto reflected, his concept of him had changed with time.

The Sasuke that he had first met had seemed to be nothing more than a bitter person, filled with flesh and snide comments, with a misanthropic dislike for the world that plagued many people his age. But as he had grown closer to him, he grew close enough for Sasuke to allow him to see the true depth of his darkness, the abyss which existed within him, the existence of which he could have never fathomed upon first meeting him. Every event which occurred in the first few months of their acquaintance seemed innocuous, though not trivial, painted with the illusion of simplicity. Once he had befriended him, once he had fallen in love with him, it had been too late. Unknowingly, he had waded gradually, yet steadily, into the mess of Sasuke's past, and now, he thought, now that he was standing with only his head above the water, he might as well submerge himself. As he lay with Sasuke in his arms, their bare skin touching, their body heat flowing into each other, the darkness which Sasuke held in his heart flowed into Naruto as well.

* * *

(A/n): Originally they weren't supposed to have sex on the floor but it just kind of happened…hmm...I hope that my story isn't turning into porn. So I know that this sex scene was mostly action and not like thinking or emotion or whatever but I was feeling super lazy and I just wanted to finish the chapter. Plus, there's been enough emotional crap…By the way, that wasn't the second time they had sex, let's call it like the third or fourth time, cause I'm not going to write about like every time they have sex. I mean, they live together and sleep in the same bed, need I say more?

A quick note, if anyone caught that Neji is the Hyuuga heir, I know that Hinata is technically the Hyuuga heir, but nobody cares. I mean, really, who would you choose to inherit the Hyuuga legacy, Neji or Hinata? I don't think that's even a question that needs to be asked.

Also, sorry about the lack of Gaara/Ino/Sakura. Many people have said that they like that I focus on the other characters other than just Sasuke and Naruto, but unfortunately, due to the current nature of the plot, there isn't really room for them, and their characters are almost fully developed anyway. Don't worry, though, they'll return later. :3

Thanks for reading! n.n


	25. Paradise

The Story Thus Far: Naruto met Sasuke through a dare involving getting him to smile, which led to Sasuke becoming Naruto's tutor and later, his friend. Meanwhile, Itachi broke out of prison and returned to the city. After Sakura broke up with Naruto, the two grew closer until they developed strong romantic feelings for each other. When Tsunade's party rolled around, Naruto asked Sasuke to be his cross-dressing date, and they shared their first kiss at the party. After some hardship, they entered into a relationship, but Sasuke's tormented past soon interfered. An argument involving Itachi causes Naruto to fully realize the hold Sasuke's past has on him, and with the advice of Neji, the two go on a trip.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I don't own Naruto. I also do not condone the consumption of marshmallows.

_Warnings: _The return of the soaking wet hot guys, strong language, and more (although brief and vague) sex.

_Typically, I would ask you to review here, but no one seems to be heeding my request._

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: PARADISE**

The sun had recently climbed up from beneath the horizon, beginning its quotidian journey across the sky. It had emerged from hiding behind the mountains long enough for the sky to abandon its pink and orange tint in favor of the fresh, pale blue color of a new day. It was the color of a translucent stream, without a cloud to interrupt its flow. The pleasant light of the early morning engulfed the city in a warm embrace, despite it being the middle of the winter, its rays reaching into the cracks between the buildings and chasing away the darkness. The light touched the water of the fountain in the college courtyard, causing it to glitter as if it was composed of liquid diamond. Sasuke stood near the fountain, the light warming his pale skin, watching as the same light bounced off Naruto's incandescent golden hair. Naruto stood a short distance away from him, closer to the parking lot in which his bright orange car rested, speaking to his group of friends. Tenten, Neji, Sakura, Gaara, and Ino encircled him, engaged in friendly chatter.

Sasuke was annoyed that Naruto's friends had come to see them off: he found it impractical that they had traveled here, since it was relatively early in the morning, although a few of them had some classes in an hour or so (Sasuke had no classes on Fridays, whereas Naruto had one in the afternoon, although he decided that their trip was more important than attending it); he also found it unnecessary since they would only be gone for the weekend. He was quietly surprised that they would bid him farewell for such a short amount of time and wondered if all friendships were like the ones displayed before him, if they all really cared for Naruto to such an extent, regardless of the fact that they only gathered on occasion as of late. An emotion resembling suspicion sprouted within him as he considered the notion that there may be a hidden significance, an ulterior motive, to the trip.

His eyes scrutinized the countenances of Naruto's friends; Neji, whose thin lips were set in a subtle smile, the muscles of his face relaxed, his effortless, yet refined expression reflecting his calm, mature nature; Tenten, who Sasuke assumed to be Neji's girlfriend, although there was no evident indication in their behavior that such a relationship existed between them, whose large, chocolate eyes always sparkled, be it with mischief or good humor; Ino, who had insisted that everyone should come to say goodbye, whose mouth was usually open because she was either talking incessantly or laughing loudly in her perpetual cheerfulness; Gaara, whose expression remained unrevealing and largely neutral, his lips hardly moving since he did not say much, except that he wanted to hear Naruto's surf stories when he returned; and Sakura, whose sheepish smile and lightly tinted cheeks conveyed that she felt somewhat out of place among the group of friends, in Sasuke's presence. Although Sakura knew that Sasuke did not want any of them there by the harshness of his gaze, she felt that she was the most unwelcome.

When Neji and Gaara walked toward Naruto's car to assist him with securing the rack that would carry the surfboards, Ino and Tenten followed, hovering near them, leaving Sakura behind with Sasuke. Preoccupied with her thoughts concerning Sasuke's dislike of her, by the time she had noticed that her friends were walking away, it had been too late to chase after them without it seeming as if she did not want to be left alone with Sasuke. Although there was an element of truth to that, she lacked the courage to ditch him so blatantly, even though she knew that Sasuke could not care less about her, and a miniscule part of her still desired his friendship. Sakura turned to him and began speaking, evidently trying to strike up a small conversation with him.

"Are you excited for the trip?" Sakura asked nonchalantly.

His coal eyes slowly shifted in her direction until they rested on her. He looked upon the petite, pink-haired girl with slight disdain, but mostly with irritation. Her attempts to converse with him were futile and only succeeded in making him dislike her even further because she was bothersome. For perhaps the first time, he wondered why she tried to speak with him at every opportunity which was presented to her. Sasuke considered whether he should respond, how he should respond if he chose to do so, and whether he should do so truthfully.

Honestly, he was looking forward to entire weekend with Naruto. It was not as if he had not gotten to spend the whole weekend with him before, being that they lived together, but they had never done so without interruption, without the familiar surroundings of the city, and without any other people. He imagined that it would be as if they were the only people who existed in the world, or better put, as if they were escaping to a different world in which they were the only inhabitants. The need to get away from the city was steadily augmenting; when he walked down the streets he felt as if the crowd was the Labyrinth and as if the walls of the buildings were encroaching upon him. He would think of how, whenever he turned a corner on a street, he could easily bump into his brother.

The realization that the purpose of the trip was not to take him to another place, but to take him away from his current one, struck him. Sasuke looked at Naruto, the glow of the morning sun against his caramel skin, as he talked and laughed with his friends, his long, lean body stretching as he placed the surfboards on the rack. The thought occurred to him that perhaps his discovery should anger him, because Naruto still endeavored to shield him from his brother and his past, but he felt no resentment. For a reason he could not identify, he almost felt like smiling.

"Sasuke?" Sakura called unsurely, in an attempt to catch his attention, since he had not replied to her question for several long seconds.

It did not seem as if he failed to respond because he was ignoring her, but more so like he was lost in thought. He gazed away from her, but his stare was not vacant; she noticed that he was looking at Naruto. Suddenly, the image of Naruto carrying Sasuke on his back, as they crossed the beach in the evening light, entered her mind. Sasuke remembered her presence and turned to look at her. Sakura was surprised at how in a matter of moments the set of his countenance seemed to transform. The muscles of his face had relaxed; his lips were not pressed together as thinly as usual and his eyes were not so narrowed. Although he gazed at her with indifference, there was no hint of antipathy in his eyes, as if he was not bothered by her in that moment.

"Yes," he stated simply, staring at her directly.

"What?" Having been caught off guard by the change in his demeanor, Sakura had forgotten her own question.

"I'm excited," Sasuke clarified. His flat tone appeared to contradict his statement, but his voice lacked sarcasm or any other indication that he was not speaking the truth.

"Oh. Well, that's good," Sakura mumbled inarticulately. She found herself embarrassed, and wondered why she found it so difficult to speak to him even though he was complying with her. While she tried to think of something else to say, Naruto called Sasuke to the car, since they had finished securing the surfboards. He began to walk away without a word or a second glance at Sakura.

"Bye, Sasuke," Sakura blurted.

He halted, his back facing her, and her heart rate accelerated as she grew nervous, once again embarrassed, this time for speaking so thoughtlessly. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at her, his expression apathetic, and then continued to walk toward Naruto's car. Sakura remained where she stood for a moment, looking after him, inexplicably feeling as if that was the kindest look that he had ever spared her. After several moments of staring, she noticed that Sasuke was already sitting in the passenger seat of the car, and that Naruto was standing by the open door of the driver seat, once more encircled by his friends. Sakura approached the car quickly, so that she could hug Naruto and say goodbye to him, but she did not repeat her farewell to Sasuke.

Neji had wished Sasuke a good trip with polite detachment, and Tenten had done the same, except affably. Gaara had merely glanced at him in acknowledgement that he was leaving. Ino had essentially screamed her goodbye with enthusiasm, as if she and Sasuke were the best of friends, and waved at them as they drove away. Once they disappeared down the street, Ino turned to her friends and grinned widely.

"Something tells me that Sasuke is going to be riding more than the waves."

* * *

The vivid car darted down the freeway, moving swiftly, but almost leisurely, since it traveled toward its destination unhurriedly. The windows were open, allowing the wind to whip through the car, tousling Naruto and Sasuke's hair. Naruto wore sunglasses, the sky having become brighter as the sun ascended further. The music emitting from the speakers, songs by bands such as Nirvana, Sublime, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, originated from Naruto's iPod, which he had connected to the stereo at the beginning of their trip. The corners of Naruto's lips were curved upward in a content smile that had settled onto his face long ago and had never left; he stared ahead, at the curving road and the occasional blue patches of the Pacific Ocean that entered his line of sight, his left hand on the steering wheel and his right hand resting near the gear stick, close to Sasuke's hand. Sasuke looked out the window at the seemingly endless sea; he glanced down at the road which appeared to move beneath the wheels of the car. He grew farther from his hometown, of which he had not traveled outside since he was a child, with each instant.

Instead of taking major freeways, which were inland and would have taken them to their destination faster, they had chosen the route of the Pacific Coast Highway, in order to truly enjoy the journey. With every curve of the road, Sasuke felt as if he could almost touch the sea, even though it beat rhythmically against the base of the cliffs dozens of feet below him. He observed the beautiful scenery around him; they were passing through a section of the highway that did not pass through a beach town, leaving him with nothing in sight but a mostly undisturbed environment. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto and a small smile settled onto his lips; _he belongs here_.

Hours later, they arrived at their destination, which was a secluded beach ideal for surfing. Dropping everything to put on their wetsuits and grab their boards took precedence over checking into a hotel in a nearby town or eating lunch. Naruto and Sasuke headed toward the ocean.

"You must be rusty since you haven't gone surfing in a while," Naruto started, his statement at first sounding like a logical assumption; but as soon as a sly smirk appeared on Naruto's lips, Sasuke knew what he would say next. "I bet you're going to suck," he taunted, "it's going to be fun watching you fall."

"Shut up," Sasuke replied sharply, "in that case I'll just have to poke out your eyeballs so you won't receive the satisfaction of watching me fall."

"Oh, so you admit that you're going to fall?" Naruto laughed, completely disregarding the threat in his boyfriend's words. "I'm honestly surprised. I thought that you, the almighty Sasuke Uchiha, were much too proud to ever admit something like that."

"Unlike you, I don't think that I'm god's gift to the world," Sasuke retorted, his eyes focused on the ocean ahead of them. Naruto grinned foxily, something he had not done in quite a while, knowing that Sasuke was joking despite his convincing act.

"I don't think so, I know so," Naruto corrected with an attractive, cocky smirk, and then continued to tease Sasuke. "I mean, I must be, if I could win you over."

"What infallible logic," Sasuke said with dry sarcasm. He had to stifle the urge to blush, though.

They reached the shore, their feet sinking into the darkened, wet sand, the ocean swaying back and forth only a few feet away from them. He turned to look at Naruto, who returned his gaze, smiling widely at him with hardly contained excitement. A wave collapsed into nothing more than a thin layer of water which crawled toward the beach with white foam at its tips; the frigid water gathered around Naruto and Sasuke's feet, giving them their first taste of the sea. Sasuke returned the smile, reflecting on how they were already bickering and flirting with a kind of lightheartedness that he had not felt since the beginning of their relationship.

"Ready?" Naruto asked.

"Let's go."

Sasuke moved forward, the water splashing around his feet, which were already growing numb, as he entered the ocean. Naruto was only a few steps behind him. Soon enough, they were paddling out to where the waves began alongside each other, stretched out across their boards. The cold water drenched them, the chill reaching their bones, but they literally grinned and bore it. Naruto looked at Sasuke, who was smiling beneath the dark curtain of his hair. Naruto dived beneath the occasional intimidating wave, whereas Sasuke struggled through them, until they had paddled beyond the invisible line which marked where the waves began to form. They halted and sat up on their boards, Naruto doing so quickly and with expertise, while Sasuke did so meticulously, so that he would not slip off his board. The sea rocked beneath them.

Naruto turned to face him, his golden hair a shade darker, but his cerulean eyes gleamed, seeming brighter than the ocean. "I'm impressed that you still have the hang of that after so much time, maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to jump to conclusions," Naruto mused, laughing lightly after he had spoken. It was difficult to determine whether he was speaking truthfully or taunting Sasuke yet again; most likely, it was a combination of both. "It's alright, though, I'm sure I'll get to see you fall soon enough," he added with an impish grin.

"Well 'soon enough' won't be as soon as you think, dobe. You go ahead. I'll stay back here for a few minutes," Sasuke stated offhandedly, for the most part disregarding Naruto's teasing.

"Why? Tired already?" Naruto mocked.

"You could say that."

For some reason, Naruto sensed that his proposed reason was not the truth behind Sasuke's desire to stay behind, even though it was probably true that his arms were tired. He looked at Sasuke for another moment, a small smirk appearing on his boyfriend's lips. He shrugged, murmured 'suit yourself' dismissively, and turned to face the shore. He remained sitting up for a moment as he stared at the expanse of empty sea separating him from the land, thinking of the entire world which existed beneath the surface of the ocean, relishing in their isolation. Naruto paddled toward the spawning waves, Sasuke's eyes following his every movement.

The winter waves were larger than the ones Sasuke had ridden in the fall, the last time he had been out on the ocean. Briefly, he thought that they seemed daunting, but his opinion quickly changed once he saw Naruto stand. He was not merely riding the wave, allowing it to take him wherever it pleased; he was taming it. At first, he moved wildly—as if in dominating the sea, he had absorbed all of its vehemence—and with more ecstasy than the only other time that Sasuke had seen him surf. His movements were bold, ostentatious as always, but Sasuke felt that he would have moved in the same manner even if there was no one in the world to watch him. During the short moments in which Naruto's board lost contact with the sea, he looked truly free as he hovered above it in that instant, as if Naruto felt that he was above all of his problems which he had abandoned on land. The sensation of the freezing water against his exposed skin, the sensation of surfing itself, filled him with exhilaration. The thought crossed his mind that Neji was right, that not only did Sasuke need this, but that he did as well.

Sasuke continued to watch Naruto, in the back of his mind wondering briefly if even his presence had been forgotten, as Naruto was consumed by euphoria. He recalled that, when he had first seen Naruto surf, he had found it amazing; but over time the memory had lost its connection to his emotions, rendering him only able to remember that he had thought so without feeling it as well. But now, as he watched Naruto's body twist against the tight material of his wetsuit, there was nothing within him except astonishment. Despite the occasional violence of his movements, Sasuke found the sight strangely calming, as if it was silencing the latent distress within him. He envisioned Naruto's expression, focused and in control, yet elated; it was a look that Sasuke had rarely seen on Naruto's face, which hinted at the strength that resided in him.

In time, Naruto calmed down, and had returned to sitting on his board. He then paddled toward Sasuke, so that they could tackle the waves together, smiling at him exultantly when they sat alongside each other once more. Sasuke bit back a smile that threatened to be wider and more revealing than his typical subdued ones. When it was his turn to stand on his board and throw himself at the mercy of the sea, he plummeted into the water several times before his body remembered what to do and he was able to remain upright.

* * *

They surfed throughout the day, only halting when they felt as if their stomachs would revert to cannibalism from hunger, ignoring their building fatigue. When they went to the nearby town to eat lunch, they checked into a cheap hotel, tossed their bags into the room, and rested for a short while. Ultimately, they returned to the ocean, and continued to surf until they were almost certain that they would drown from exhaustion. When they decided to permanently return to the land for the day, they could hardly bring themselves to paddle, lounging on their boards as they moved their arms grudgingly, allowing the sea to carry them back most of the way. It was too similar to that day near sunset, the memory of which kept resurfacing in Naruto's mind. Today should have been that day, he thought, without uncertainty, and only with pure happiness and serenity.

He turned to look at Sasuke, who rested his head on his board, and considered taking this opportunity to speak of his feelings for him, to utter those three words with a gentle smile, as he had intended to do the first time they had surfed together. Although this time, he realized, it was unnecessary, being that Sasuke already knew; Sasuke had known for some time, but he had not heard the simple words which summed up Naruto's feelings for him until about a week ago. Then, Sasuke had responded by grabbing him and kissing him deeply, but he had yet to reciprocate those words. Naruto settled for speaking of something else.

"You've really gotten better," Naruto commented, his smile palpable in his voice; his words were the only sound, except for the soothing one of the waves.

"No shit." The words which would have normally sounded cynical came out seeming innocuous due to Sasuke's tiredness.

"Really, I mean it. You're such a fast learner. I'm impressed. At this rate, you might be almost as good as me one day. You don't need to believe me, though, because I know it sounds ridiculous and totally impossible."

Through the fog of his fatigue, Sasuke managed to scoff at how Naruto tooted his own horn even when complimenting another person. "I won't be as good as you. I'll be better," Sasuke claimed with his typical air of arrogance. What was atypical, though, was the hint of determination in his voice, which implied that it was something he would have to strive toward.

"Well that's just fan-fucking-tastic. I've created a monster that's going to destroy me one day."

"I won't destroy you. I'll leave you intact so you can properly suffer from the humiliation of me surpassing you."

"Well aren't you sadistic as shit. If you think that you're going to learn one more thing about surfing from me, you're wrong."

Sasuke could not help but chuckle lightly; he laughed in part due to their banter, but the main reason for his laughter was his happiness caused by being praised by Naruto, by merely being with him in such a manner. He attempted to conceal his small smile of pride in his accomplishment by turning his head away and biting his lip. Naruto misinterpreted his laughter, assuming that it was derisive in nature, and made a noise of displeasure before allowing his lips to settle into a pout.

They paddled the rest of the way to shore in a comfortable silence, sliding off their boards once they neared the shore and entered shallow water. They walked onto the beach together, the waves crashing around them as they trudged through the last bit of sea. The cool air of the evening enveloped them, urging them to return to their hotel, but for a moment, as they turned to look at each other and smile, the cold air did not touch them. The orange glow of the sunset illuminated their backs as they walked inland, their boards in hand, appearing to be nothing more than silhouettes from the perspective of the darkening Earth in the east.

* * *

When they arrived at their hotel room, they peeled off their wetsuits and turned on the water to take a bath, to soothe and warm their aching, shivering bodies. To Sasuke's annoyance, Naruto had discovered a bottle of bubble bath fluid underneath the sink and had snuck it into the bath when the tub was still filling up. Naruto had laughed loudly after they had entered the tub with some difficulty, since the space was compact, at the sight of a sullen Sasuke surrounded by bubbles. In all of his childishness, Naruto had decided to give himself a beard made of bubbles, to which Sasuke could not help but snort in response. After some time, Naruto rested his back against the sloping back of the tub, with Sasuke's back leaning against Naruto's chest as he sat between his legs and allowed himself to be chastely embraced by Naruto.

Once they had gotten dressed, donning their jackets, and had eaten dinner at a restaurant in town, they inevitably returned to the beach. Naruto had brought a backpack with him, and once they were seated on a beach blanket near a bonfire that they had made, Sasuke learned that its contents included a bag of jumbo marshmallows. In the true spirit of a bonfire, Naruto had found a wooden stick onto which to attach his marshmallow. He roasted it contently, his bronze skin dyed orange by the glow of the fire. Their shadows danced, flickering in time with the movement of the fire, which burned furiously, reaching upward into the sky. Sasuke looked at his pale skin which imitated the color of the fire and the reflection of the flame in Naruto's eyes. A half-formed thought resembling a memory emerged in the back of his mind.

Naruto turned to face him, his lips stretched into a friendly smile. "Do you want one?" He asked, extending the stick he was holding toward him, a burnt marshmallow attached at the end, in the form of an offer.

Sasuke recoiled from the stick. "No, I don't. Get that thing away from me," he ordered. There was slight disgust and irritation evident in his voice, although the feeling merely resided on the surface.

"Who the hell doesn't like marshmallows?" Naruto mused with incredulity, feigning insult, and retracted the stick.

"Obviously, me. You know that I don't like sweets. And even if I did, you picked up that stick off the ground. That's disgusting."

"Fine. Be a snob for all I care. I was just trying to be authentic," Naruto said with a pout. He removed the marshmallow from the stick and popped it into his mouth, eating it in a single bite.

"Apparently authentic is synonymous with unsanitary," Sasuke stated with heavy sarcasm, although he was wearing a good-humored smirk.

"There's no need to be a smartass," Naruto commented petulantly. He watched the fire in front of him for a few moments. It was beginning to decrease in size as it exhausted its fuel. After the short pause, he continued, sounding as if he was speaking to himself. "You're no different…" he murmured, leaving the thought unfinished. Sasuke looked at Naruto's profile, his blue eyes staring directly ahead.

"What?" He asked unsurely. Although he had heard Naruto's words, somehow he was uncertain concerning what exactly Naruto had said.

"Ah, sorry. I just spaced out for a moment," Naruto apologized, laughing dismissively at his own incompetence. "I was just thinking there for a moment that you aren't much different from when I first met you, but then I realized that I was wrong. I think you have changed, a little, or maybe I just got to know you better. But what I meant was that right now, it almost seems no different because…" He trailed off, struggling to put the reason into words.

"It doesn't feel like anything matters," Sasuke said, his voice more subdued than usual. He turned his attention to the dying flame as well.

Something in Sasuke's tone made Naruto turn to look at him. For a moment, he found that the expression on Sasuke's face was simultaneously indescribable and indecipherable. A second or two of silence passed between them. Sasuke seemed to have taken notice of Naruto's gaze, since his countenance changed. He faced Naruto, his expression now neutral and almost tranquil, looking at him expectantly as he waited for a response.

"That's exactly it! Back then, everything was so…I can't find a word for it, but I'm sure that you know what I mean. I flirted with you so lightly and jokingly. But part of me was serious, you know."

"Really?" Sasuke inquired. Although his tone did not reveal his surprise, he felt it nonetheless.

"Yeah…I thought that you were gorgeous. I still do. I'm sure that other people think so, but they're too scared to approach you," Naruto pondered earnestly.

Sasuke swallowed, fighting his embarrassment at Naruto's soft words. "I don't think so."

"Sasuke, do you know why Sakura broke up with me?" Naruto queried suddenly.

Sasuke stared at him, nonplussed, attempting to see the connection that Naruto had made between the two topics and failing. He grew somewhat uncomfortable, unwilling to be reminded of such a thing, particularly in that moment, when he thought that they had left all of that behind in the dust behind their wheels. Briefly, he reminded himself that the trip was not an escape from reality, even though in his typical reality in Konoha City, he forbade himself from thinking of Naruto and Sakura's former relationship. He knew that he must accept it, and that, for whatever reason, Naruto wished to speak of it now. He looked at Naruto, who smiled at him contentedly despite the sobriety of his words, his cerulean eyes glittering amorously. Sasuke realized how intimate the atmosphere had become, and how the cackling fire whose light encompassed them was the only light for miles.

"No, I don't know. You had said that you didn't know the reason either." Sasuke recalled that day in which he had sat across from Naruto at Ichiraku's after that fateful night, wondering if that day had, in part, lead him to the very spot in which he was sitting at that moment.

"I had lied. It was because of you."

Sasuke was completely taken by surprise, his thoughts racing at the implications of that statement. He could not fathom how that could be possible, how it could be the truth; he wondered what he could have done for it to be either of those two things. At that time, he was certain that there had not been any inappropriate or romantic elements to their relationship, at least, not on the surface. He remembered that he had to respond and choked out a question.

"What?"

"It sounds worse than it actually is, but it's true," Naruto mumbled, somewhat embarrassed at Sasuke's apparent misconceptions. "It's not like I had told her that I liked you or anything…I mean, yeah, I was attracted to you and may have had a little crush on you at the most, but I wasn't really aware of it. Anyway, she said that I had been neglecting her ever since I met you, because I had been spending too much time with you."

He wondered if anger should flare up within him at the revelation, for whatever reason, but he felt nothing of the sort, only a sudden sense of understanding. Her behavior toward him now made more sense than it did formerly, since there was a more solid foundation to her ludicrousness, although it did not justify her actions. "She thought that I was taking you away from her," Sasuke thought aloud.

"Yeah. She also had suspected me of cheating on her since I wasn't really showing much interest in her, but I don't think that she really thought I was doing it. I don't know…sometimes I think about it, and I wonder why I didn't fight to salvage the relationship I had with her. It seems unlike me, doesn't it?" Naruto asked, although the question was rhetorical. Sasuke agreed silently before Naruto's level voice continued. "That entire thing really put things into perspective for me. It made me wonder what exactly my relationship with you was and how it appeared to other people."

Sasuke absorbed all of the information, all of Naruto's personal thoughts which he had kept to himself until now, and found himself pleasantly surprised. He could see the connection now, and it traveled from Naruto to him, in actuality having little to do with Sakura, other than her being the medium through which to express his ideas. "You've been thinking about this a lot lately?" He asked, knowing that he was stating the obvious, but he could not think of much else to say.

"Yeah…I've just been thinking about that entire time a lot lately. You know, the beginning of first semester. I even think about high school a little sometimes. It really wasn't that long ago."

"It wasn't."

When Naruto turned to face him, locking eyes with him, he was overpowered by the ardor in his eyes as he looked at him tenderly. Upon closer inspection, as Sasuke gazed into his eyes, he found spark of guilt there as well. Naruto sidled closer to him and leaned forward slightly, causing Sasuke to lean backward, placing his hands on the ground for support. He cradled Sasuke's cheek in a caress, his blue eyes remaining piercing and striking Sasuke's core. "I didn't even see you," he whispered huskily, a twinge of shame in his voice. His hand fell from Sasuke's face.

Sasuke tore his eyes away from those of Naruto to glance downward at the parted lips which hovered tantalizingly close to his own. His lips tingled with the promise of their touch. "What do you mean?" He managed to speak, somewhat puzzled.

Naruto drew back slightly, increasing the distance between them, his expression having grown more serious and self-critical. He gazed into Sasuke's dark pools intently, a spark of fire at their centers. "I mean exactly what I said. I'd see you in the halls sometimes, and I'd look at you, but I wouldn't really notice you, or think anything of you. I was just like everyone else. I know I didn't see you that often, since you took a bunch of honors and AP classes and I was just in the stupid classes, but I don't think that's any excuse."

Sasuke was unsure whether he thought that Naruto was being absurd or sweet; he decided that it was a mixture of both. "Don't tell me that you feel guilty about that." The sheepish look which settled onto Naruto's features confirmed Sasuke's suspicions. "None of that even matters," Sasuke murmured, his voice dropping slightly and becoming softer, to his surprise.

He realized that he was attempting to comfort Naruto, that he did not want him to experience even slight turmoil from a matter which he considered trivial. Briefly, Sasuke wondered what had been happening to him during the past couple of months and where his hard veneer had gone. He averted his gaze from Naruto's face, glancing off to the side, and slowly placed his hand over that of Naruto. The space separating them had been reduced significantly. Naruto placed his hand on Sasuke's cheek once more, drawing Sasuke's eyes back to him; although he had not been looking at Naruto, his attention had never left him.

"Sasuke…I love you."

His dark eyes widened momentarily before narrowing into a heavy-lidded gaze. Sasuke closed his eyes and buried a hand into Naruto's golden hair so that he could pull the blond's lips down to his own. He locked their lips together in a deep kiss; they fell to the ground, with Naruto lying on top of Sasuke, settled in between his legs. Naruto's hand began the journey down Sasuke's body, moving slowly, but only stopping when it rested over Sasuke's belt. Naruto broke the kiss as he shifted his attention to removing the obstacle. Sasuke looked up at him as he laid on the cloth of the beach blanket, hardly able to see him, the fire having been reduced to nothing more than embers among ashes which emitted a dull glow. The sound of Sasuke's belt buckle coming undone filled the silent night air, and Naruto leaned forward to press his lips against Sasuke's passionately once more. Their exhausted bodies became reinvigorated by desire.

Sasuke's palms were pressed against the smooth skin of Naruto's chest, his jacket having been removed and his shirt having been pushed up to expose the tawny skin to the cold air. He could feel Naruto's hands against his hips as Naruto held him firmly, guiding them, urging them to move faster. The fading glow revealed the tint which colored Naruto's cheeks. His large eyes were hardly open; he closed them occasionally when he felt as if he was losing himself completely to pleasure, but he forced himself to open them again so that he could watch Sasuke as he moved on top of him. Naruto pulled Sasuke's hips downward, thrusting upward into him simultaneously, causing Sasuke to moan without restraint. The air surrounding them was no longer cold, filled with the warmth of their bodies as well as their pants and groans.

"Naruto," Sasuke said breathily. His voice, which was thick with emotion, was almost a plea. At the sound of his name whispered in such a manner, Naruto gripped Sasuke's hips more tightly. Sasuke moaned Naruto's name again. Through the mindlessness that overwhelmed him, Naruto managed to reflect that that was the closest to a confession from Sasuke that he had ever received.

Afterward, when they had succumbed to a new kind of exhaustion, they sat beside one another, facing the ocean. The lack of light around them engulfed them in a kind of darkness that neither had ever witnessed. The limited visibility was not frightening, but instead it seemed peaceful—because the blackness of the night was completely undisturbed, flowing continuously from one end of the Earth to the other—and natural, as if was how the beach should appear. Although they could hardly see the ocean, they could hear the calming sound of the waves as they moved against the sand. The stars above them glittered brightly, present in an amount that neither had seen before, that made the city seem like something malevolent for overshadowing nature. The pitch darkness made the shore blur into the ocean until they became indistinguishable from each other, as if the entire world was fading into a void. They sat, facing nothingness, at what felt like the edge of the Earth, and found it strangely beautiful.

* * *

In the morning, despite the protests of their bodies, they awoke when the dark curtain of night was still cast over their corner of the world, to ensure that they stood on the sand of the beach by the time the sun peeked over the horizon. They entered the ocean again, and would not return from it for a large portion of the day. The rest of their weekend was spent in a similar fashion, although occasionally they broke away from their vigorous surfing to visit some of the shops in the nearby town, to thoroughly enjoy their hotel room, or just to swim in the sea or lay on the sand.

Naruto would stretch himself across the strip of the beach closest to the ocean, where the damp sand resembled mud, with his head against the ground and his eyes reflecting the color of the heavens at which he gazed. Occasionally, the remnants of a dying wave would pool around him for a few moments before withdrawing, washing away his wounds, although he knew that it did not heal them. They would reopen once he returned to the city; he felt as if, for that weekend, he lived in a world where all the strife in his relationship with Sasuke did not exist. There was no past, no beginning, no end; nothing but a constant present in which he and Sasuke were at that beach. Everyone else in the world had faded away, as if they had never existed; at times, Naruto even felt like the threat of Itachi did not exist, although it still lurked deep within his mind.

Naruto would look at Sasuke and see his subtle happiness; he would think that perhaps the same applied to him—that he had momentarily forgotten his brother—but then he would painfully remind himself that Sasuke had not forgotten, that failing to remember was something of which Sasuke was incapable, and that he could not expect such a thing of Sasuke. Naruto resolved that, as long as Sasuke could push his past aside enough to allow room for happiness, everything was all right. He knew that, inevitably, Sasuke would suffer at times, but so long as Naruto could keep him content for the majority of the time, it should not matter.

Toward the end of the trip, the notion that his concept of perfection would come to an end with it nearly ruined the perfection he had experienced in the first place. As they left the beach behind them, he wondered if they would be able to achieve that level of happiness and freedom again. Apprehensively, he brooded over the possibility that the perfection of the isolated beach, when contrasted with the city, would make reality seem all the more worse. In an attempt to curb his wandering mind, he told himself that he was letting his fears grab hold of him too tightly, but some damage had already been done. As he drove toward the city, with Sasuke sitting beside him in the passenger seat, he noticed the clouds, foreshadowing rain, passing over the sun, giving him the impression that they were approaching some sort of inescapable darkness.

* * *

(A/n): If anyone recalls, in chapter 14 Naruto promised to take Sasuke on a surfing trip if he improved, but considering the circumstances he decided to use that promise to get away from the city.

Also, Naruto had been surfing regularly (though not really often) with Gaara, which is why he isn't rusty. I know I spent like two paragraphs describing Naruto surfing, but something about it is just really beautiful, in my opinion.

On a side note, I went back and changed a few of the character's cars, for self-evident reasons. Just so you know, haha.


	26. Untitled

Summary: Naruto met Sasuke through a dare involving getting him to smile, which led to Sasuke becoming Naruto's tutor and later, his friend. Meanwhile, Itachi broke out of prison and returned to the city. After Sakura broke up with Naruto, the two grew closer until they developed strong romantic feelings for each other. When Tsunade's party rolled around, Naruto asked Sasuke to be his cross-dressing date, and they shared their first kiss at the party. After some hardship, they entered into a relationship, but Sasuke's tormented past soon interfered. An argument involving Itachi causes Naruto to fully realize the hold Sasuke's past has on him, and with the advice of Neji, the two go on a trip. As they return from their peaceful weekend, Naruto fears that they will never experience the same peace again.

Special thanks to my 1,200th reviewer, mammacass99! :)  
Also, I'll give this chapter a title whenever I think of one.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I will NEVER own Naruto. And that makes me sad.

_Warnings: _slight angst (?), extremely one-sided LeeSaku, strong language, NaruSaku-ishness, and Itachi.

_Do review, dearies!_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: UNTITLED**

The sun hung directly above them, in the center of the sky, causing the shadow of the tree beneath which they were sitting to be reduced to an imperfect circle; the gaps between the branches allowed shards of light to reach the ground, interrupting the otherwise uniform shadow, as if someone had haphazardly plucked away spots of darkness. The shadow would tremble across the grass when the biting, winter wind rustled the leaves of the tree and blew harshly against their faces. Only the leaves of the tree would quiver; its thick trunk provided it with enough strength to prevent it from bending to the will of the wind, and it was also the reason that the tree's roots still dug deeply into the ground in the center of a green courtyard of the Konoha campus.

Although the distance was not that great, Naruto felt far from the students who walked along the concrete paths which swerved throughout the campus and around the courtyard. He was certain that he could have a conversation with Sasuke, speaking at a normal volume, without any of the passers-by being able to hear the words which they uttered. They were quiet, though, as they sat beside each other and studied, textbooks and notebooks either in hand or in the grass which surrounded them. As Naruto read the words which littered the page, his mind began to wander, causing those words to become empty as he stared at them with an equally empty stare. In the sheer silence, he wondered what path Sasuke's thoughts were taking; if they were really focused on the material before him, or if they were leading him to his brother. Naruto's eyes lifted from the page to give Sasuke a lingering glance.

His gaze would ghost over Sasuke's countenance, his cerulean eyes attentive, searching for any indication that he may still be tormented and haunted by his brother—the slightest dip of his thin, dark eyebrows, the subtle downward curve of the corners of his lips, or a sidelong glance that lasted for a second too long—and for any indication that a semblance of the violence and instability within Sasuke which he had discovered during their last argument remained. Naruto had begun tossing surreptitious glances at him soon after they had returned from their surfing trip, since the apprehension which had been creeping upon him steadily had struck him at full force once they had stepped into their dorm. He feared that the familiar setting, which overflowed with the various memories that were connected to it, would incite a relapse in Sasuke. The beauty of the secluded beach was that it had been free of any associations before they had arrived; each moment in which they had touched the sand or the ocean, they had gradually filled its former vacancy with pleasant memories, rendering it an eternal paradise in their minds.

Although there was no visible sign of it, Sasuke had taken note of Naruto's furtive glances and his attempts to conceal the pensive, intense stare with which he gazed at him at times. It was not as if Naruto was not prone to staring at Sasuke, but the nature of the look was noticeably different. At first, Sasuke chose to say nothing regarding Naruto's persistent looks and endured the annoyance he felt toward Naruto. The notion that Naruto was looking for a crack in his façade of strength, because Naruto truly comprehended his weakness now, irritated him increasingly as the days progressed, despite the fact that those looks had begun to decrease in amount as Naruto gained reassurance from Sasuke's normal behavior.

On that windy day, underneath the tree, the look that Naruto had tossed Sasuke had been of a kind that he had not given him in a couple of days. An irrepressible, sudden need to scrutinize him, to ensure that there was not a brooding expression on Sasuke's face, had begun to eat at him as they sat in what felt like false tranquility. He found that Sasuke's downcast eyes were looking intently into his book, his expression focused and neutral. Naruto's eyes had hardly been resting on him for a few seconds when Sasuke announced his knowledge of Naruto's gaze.

"I'm fine, so stop looking at me like that," he insisted bitterly, without taking his eyes of the book to look at Naruto.

Although he knew that he should have anticipated that Sasuke would notice eventually, particularly due to his perceptiveness, Naruto's eyes widened with slight surprise. At first glance, Sasuke appeared to maintain his apathetic veneer, but Naruto discerned that Sasuke's grip on his book had tightened and that his demeanor had become sullen. His coal black eyes bore into his book in a dour refusal to look at Naruto. Several moments of silence followed Sasuke's words as Naruto contemplated whether he should respond with a succinct acquiescence or an inevitably verbose explanation. Regardless of his actions, Sasuke would grow more exasperated by the second. Naruto bit his lip before speaking.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, I didn't mean to…I mean, I just can't help it since it's only natural that I'd be concerned after that episode about two weeks ago, you know. But you seem to be alright and everything. I was just being paranoid and I wanted to make sure that you're okay, so yeah. I won't do it anymore, I promise—."

Immediately after Naruto had finished uttering the last syllable of his last word, before his sentence could properly come to a close, Sasuke slammed his book shut abruptly, stood up, and stormed away. Startled, Naruto looked after him while sitting, before standing and doing the same. Naruto's dumbstruck response allowed Sasuke, who was walking briskly through the grass, to nearly make it to the concrete paths before Naruto even considered chasing after him.

Sasuke's eyes adhered to the ground ahead of him as he walked. A sudden burst of wind tousled his outgrown, raven hair violently and stung his face in its coldness. The apologetic nature of his speech, the gentleness of his tone, the earnest gleam of his eyes, had driven Sasuke over the edge for a reason unknown to him. He wondered what could soothe his building frustration, if not those things. He could hear Naruto scrambling to follow him, calling his name, amid the whipping of the wind and the sound of the leaves. He continued to walk onward without turning around, not quite aware as to why his legs seemed so adamant to push him forward and put distance between himself and Naruto.

He felt a touch at his wrist. He halted in slight surprise; he had not heard Naruto approach, aside from the sound of his voice, which mere seconds ago had seemed to be nothing more than a distant call that was muffled and being carried away by the wind. Now, Naruto's voice seemed close, as if he was speaking into Sasuke's ear, and clear, cutting through the sound of the wind.

"Sasuke."

He uttered as his fingers wrapped around Sasuke's thin wrist, his grip firm, yet somehow gentle. Sasuke turned to look at him, his expression unrevealing. Naruto gazed into the dark, seemingly bottomless eyes which stared back at him, knowing that slight sadness was present in his own blue eyes. "Please don't be mad," he requested solemnly, his voice somewhat subdued.

Sasuke returned Naruto's gaze for another moment before averting his eyes. He felt Naruto's fingers slide down from his wrist and to his hand, and then Naruto entangled their fingers. Naruto raised his other hand to Sasuke's face; he brushed his raven hair away from his face, running his fingers along the length of the long strands which framed it, and then fluidly moved his hand so that he was holding Sasuke's chin. As Naruto grazed his thumb over Sasuke's lower lip, causing his lips to part, Sasuke looked up at him, his countenance remaining largely expressionless. Without glancing about the courtyard for witnesses, Naruto brought Sasuke's lips to his own. He pulled away slowly, but hovered close enough to easily touch his lips to those of Sasuke again, if he so wished, and to look into his coal eyes, which no longer seemed so callous. Briefly, Sasuke looked as if he might close the gap between their lips, but then he untangled his hand from Naruto's and took a few steps away.

"Don't do anything like that in public ever again," Sasuke ordered in his usual tone, although his voice was not unnecessarily harsh. Because he faced away from Naruto, his moderately flushed face went unnoticed. He scanned his surroundings, and found that, luckily, only a few people had been passing through the courtyard at the time, and no one appeared to be paying particular attention to them. The prospect of being seen, though, was not the main cause of his tinted cheeks.

"Fine, I won't," Naruto said, "but only if you stop being mad."

"You're lucky that I'm not mad after that."

Upon glimpsing Sasuke's expression as he turned to face Naruto, he confirmed that Sasuke's anger had dissipated. Naruto's lips stretched into a smile. "I guess I am lucky, then," he said brightly, and paused before continuing. "Since you stormed off in the middle of our study session, I'm guessing that it's over. So come back to the tree with me so we can get our stuff."

"Alright."

Naruto smiled at him once more before turning around and beginning to walk toward the tree. Sasuke looked after him for a moment, watching his back as he moved and his golden hair as it was disheveled by the wind. The corners of his lips curved upward to form an imperceptible smile. He wondered what had happened to him to make him abnormally forgiving and wondered if he was becoming soft, but he dismissed his musings as unimportant, and followed after Naruto.

* * *

The image of Naruto, Sakura, Neji, and Gaara sitting alongside one another on the edge of the fountain, their former, typical meeting spot, was reminiscent of a time in which the ties that connected the friends had not been stretched. Although they seldom gathered there now, in a sense, they had not grown that distant from one another; the bonds between them were stronger than they had previously been, due to everything which had unfolded following Naruto meeting Sasuke. Finally, they had come to understand one another and had attained a higher level of maturity, which in turn led them to achieve a permanent emotional intimacy. No longer were they dependent on the constant presence of their friends; they had all begun to find, or at the least, look for, their own paths in life and their own places in the world. Whenever the majority of them did happen to come together, a feeling of nostalgia was ever present in the back of their minds.

The idle, friendly conversation in which they were engaged was coming to a close. The four were now standing, the three boys encircling Sakura as she spoke to them. "So it'll start around ten or eleven officially, but of course you guys can come earlier," she instructed, referring to the party that she was holding at her home that night. Yet again, Sakura's parents had gone overseas to a tropical paradise, in that instance being Costa Rica, on one of their frequent vacations. "And you can bring someone along if you'd like. If you're wondering, Naruto, yes, that means that Sasuke is invited." Her tone was lightly patronizing, as if she regarded it as a trivial matter, although internally she was smiling proudly at her magnanimity.

"That's nice of you and all, but I don't think he'll want to come. I think New Year's was a onetime thing. I'll ask him anyway, though," Naruto responded, somewhat caught off-guard by her invitation.

"I'll ask Tenten if she wants to come along. She has work tomorrow, but I doubt that that will discourage her," Neji said with a reserved smile which complimented his fond tone. "Actually, I'm meeting her for lunch, so I'll be going."

"I'm going too," Gaara added, "I have a class in ten minutes."

With that, after Naruto and Sakura bid them farewell, Neji and Gaara took their leave; Neji walked in the direction of the parking lot, toward his car, whereas Gaara went in the opposite direction, disappearing between the campus buildings, leaving Naruto alone with Sakura. Silence enveloped them for several moments before Naruto turned to face her.

"Well…I think I'll be heading back to my dorm now…" Naruto stated inelegantly, angling his body away from her in the beginning of a movement to turn around. Before he could utter the words which would finalize his departure, Sakura's slender fingers wrapped around his arm and effectively halted him. Immediately after he stilled, Sakura removed her hand from his arm, having placed it there in the first place without much thought. She fought to preclude the blush which threatened to appear on her cheeks. Naruto tossed her a curious glance.

"Um, do you want to hang out?" Sakura blurted awkwardly. Her embarrassment, which was without any clear source to Naruto, was palpable. Even she was unsure as to why she was being so sheepish concerning a matter that should hold no gravity under normal circumstances. As of late, she had been contemplating spending some time with Naruto, away from everyone else and away from school; doing so, in her opinion, would be the ultimate rekindling of their friendship. She considered that perhaps she had placed an underlying significance into a simple proposal that could not handle its weight.

Naruto merely grinned at her, making her feel ridiculous, and consented light-heartedly. "Sure." _Of course he would agree,_ Sakura thought in self-reproach, _it would be unlike him to say no. I don't know what I'm getting so worked up about. _A reason why she could have sensibly expected him refuse came to mind.

"Are you sure that it'd be okay, though? Since, you know, Sasuke," she said inarticulately.

"What about him?" Naruto posed, acting quite dense.

"Well, um, he doesn't seem to like me very much," Sakura elaborated somewhat reluctantly.

"So?"

Naruto's unremitting dullness caused Sakura to redden further. Although she viewed his lack of comprehension as being preposterous, instead of her explanations, that did not make her feel any less silly. "I don't exactly think he'd appreciate you hanging out with me like this," she clarified.

Naruto laughed loudly in response with clear amusement. She stared at him, dumbfounded and somewhat startled. "Oh shit, you think I'm whipped, don't you?" He chortled as if the notion was absurd. "Well, I assure you, no one could ever do that to me. Why does it matter if he doesn't appreciate it?" Naruto asked, the inquiry somehow a combination of being genuine and rhetorical. Sakura nearly rolled her eyes at his boastful statement, her embarrassment momentarily diminishing, with skepticism and slight annoyance taking its place. The image of Naruto strewn lifelessly across Neji's couch appeared in her mind's eye; it lingered for a moment and then passed quickly.

"Well, I don't want him to get mad at you," Sakura stated truthfully. Regardless of the resentment that existed between them which, for the most part, remained unspoken, and although she could be spiteful toward him on occasion, she did not want to give Sasuke an opportunity to grab hold of another reason, no matter how minuscule, to dislike her.

"Don't even worry about it," Naruto replied in a blithe voice that reinforced his words. "Of course I'll let him know about it so he doesn't bite my head off later, but he's going to be a little pissy no matter what. So let him shit bricks, he'll get over it, it's no big deal." He grinned at her impishly. As he took his phone out of his pocket, presumably to text Sasuke about his impromptu outing, the pink-haired girl stared at him with dubious emerald eyes.

"If you say so, I guess," Sakura mumbled. When Naruto returned his phone to his pocket and his attention back to her, she continued. "So, where do you want to go? Is there anything that you want to do?"

"Why're you asking me? You're the one that wanted to hang out," he pointed out with a grin.

Sakura's eyes widened with mortification for an instant before she realized that he was joking. Her cheeks reddened with a combination of embarrassment and anger, releasing the latter emotion by whacking him harshly. "I just asked you on impulse!" She insisted defensively while Naruto winced. "I didn't have anywhere particular in mind."

"Calm down, I was just joking," Naruto grumbled as he rubbed the spot that she had hit on his arm. He looked at the seemingly innocent pink-haired girl out of the corner of his eye, wondering when she had begun to exhibit violent tendencies. Although he had been aware of the spite and rage that existed deep within her for a long time, he had never seen her behave as truly to herself as he had recently. Regardless of being on the receiving end of her fury, the corners of his lips twitched upward.

"You shouldn't joke like that," Sakura chided, but quickly changed the manner of her speech when she realized her temperament. "But, um, anyway, maybe we could go get some coffee? There's a place within walking distance." A coffee shop was the most casual and comfortable place that she could think of to spend time with Naruto. Briefly, she had considered inviting him out to lunch, or even over to her house, but both alternatives seemed too intimate and potentially awkward, at least on her part.

"Coffee sounds great!" Naruto said with an enthusiastic grin. Sakura wondered if she had committed a grave error by mentioning the prospect of caffeine to a hyperactive blond. "Especially since it's been so cold lately…I mean, I even think that my tan has been fading…Oh god, I can't imagine what I'd look like if I became as white as Sasuke, or even as white as you, Sakura," Naruto went off on a tangent, rambling on trivial subjects for the entirety of the short walk to the coffee shop. Sakura listened and laughed in response to his babbling for the majority of the time, adding to the conversation when appropriate. Happiness bubbled up within her when she looked up at Naruto as he spoke animatedly; his pleasant words were directed solely at her, which was something that she had not experienced in months, vaguely reminding her of their former days together.

Once they had their hot coffee in hand, Sakura and Naruto sat across from each other at a small, round table for two which rested alongside the windows that functioned as the shop's façade. Naruto took a gulp of his steaming, hot coffee, evidently relishing it, whereas Sakura took a small sip of her own drink. As soon as Naruto placed his cup back onto the table, his phone vibrated loudly, causing him to take it out of his pocket. His eyes were fixed to the screen as he read the text message. When he erupted with laughter, Sakura assumed that he had finished reading it.

"I was right, he did get pissed," Naruto announced with a snicker.

Sakura assumed that he was referring to Sasuke and that Sasuke had just responded to his message. Curiosity tempted her to ask what he found so amusing and insecurity made her suspect that it was an insulting comment about her, but she did not inquire about that subject. Instead, she asked, "So, speaking of Sasuke and everything, how are you guys?"

His eyes, which gleamed with vivacity, fell flat for an instant so brief that Sakura doubted that she had witnessed it all. When she had asked the question, Naruto's fingertips had just made contact with his coffee cup for which he had been reaching. During the silent second following her words, his long fingers remained rigidly wrapped around the cup. He sighed, and his expression returned to normal—although the change in it had hardly been discernable to begin with—as if the exhalation released his tension as well as his breath.

"I guess that everything is alright," Naruto began, "since I wouldn't exactly say that things are going that well. Things are kind of shaky. The problem isn't exactly the relationship between us…it's kind of hard to explain." He spoke vaguely, merely ghosting over his concerns instead of delving into them. His tone was nearly casual; the slight edge of exasperation and solemnity in his voice was what prevented it from qualifying as such completely. Part of his irritation derived from the fact that he was tired of the subject which ran incessantly through his mind. Naruto could find no release by confiding in someone. The only person he had attempted to do so with was Neji, and despite his innate wisdom and perceptiveness, he felt as if even Neji could not grasp the complexity of the situation. "About two weeks ago he kicked me out and I had to stay at Neji's," Naruto mentioned off-handedly.

"What?" Sakura blurted with palpable surprise and concern. After she thought about it for another moment, Sasuke forcing Naruto out of their dormitory was not so shocking; on the contrary, it seemed like something that Sasuke would very likely do. She considered the notion that Naruto's silence concerning the matter was what had taken her aback. She extinguished her desire to prod and whine about why he had not told her. "Well, I'm guessing that specific problem was solved, since, you know, it's been two weeks and all," she commented lamely.

"Yeah." Naruto did not know how he had expected her to respond, or even why exactly he had brought up that event. He took a quick sip of his drink, and then proceeded to change the course of the conversation. "So what's up with you and Lee? The last time you talked about him was a while ago. Have you been seeing him in the past month?"

The question caught her somewhat off guard, effectively distracting her from the previous topic enough for her to genuinely engross herself in the conversation, although she stored the fragment of their chat involving Sasuke to mull over later. Sakura was observant enough to recognize that Naruto had no desire to speak more on the subject. Her demeanor changed slightly, a small smile appearing on her thin, pink lips.

"I've hung out with him a couple times lately. I actually do enjoy his company, even though he can be pretty annoying and embarrassing sometimes. I just really like that he's so active and energetic. It kind of rubs off on me and makes me feel a bit more alive. It's almost like he makes ordinary things exciting." When she noticed Naruto's lips stretch into a smirk, she elucidated hastily. "I made it clear to him, though, after a few dates"—she blushed at the slip, but continued nevertheless—"that I only wanted to be friends with him. Of course he was disappointed, but unfortunately, he isn't exactly discouraged. He respects my decision, though. I really think that he should just give up. I mean, he's a nice guy, but I'm just not attracted to him at all. No matter how hard I try, I just can't do it." Frustration showed through her voice. Sakura's eyes were downcast, somewhat ashamed of herself for being unable to overcome her superficiality. When she glanced upward at Naruto, with his flawless caramel skin, stunning eyes, and handsome face, she recalled her description of Lee's personality. _He kind of reminds me of you in that way._

"I won't criticize you, Sakura. I think it's good enough that you gave him an honest shot," Naruto stated with a gentle and earnest smile. He quickly abandoned his caring sobriety, though, for an idiotic grin and a cheerful laugh. "I mean, I would have _never _been able to go on anything close to a date with bushy-brows like you did."

Sakura smiled at the indirect compliment and laughed at the joke, both aspects having succeeded in significantly alleviating her shame. "Oh, so what, you've considered it?" She taunted lightheartedly.

Naruto's face contorted into an exaggerated expression of disgust. Sakura had no doubt, though, that the mental image produced from her question revolted him on some level. "Just because I'm bi, that doesn't mean that I'd hump anything with two legs," he retorted, causing Sakura to giggle. "Just look at my dating history. The people that I've humped have been very good-looking." He grinned like a fox.

Sakura flushed at both references: that of him having had sex with Sasuke and of their former intimacy. He noticed her pink cheeks and teasingly said, "What? Too soon?"

She responded by stretching across the table and smacking him. Her explosive burst of anger dissipated immediately after hitting him. She sat back down, having stood up slightly to be able to reach him. As Naruto rubbed the spot where she hit him, he murmured that the people with whom he had sex happened to be abusive as well, and then pouted. Sakura snickered at Naruto's expense. Her laughter gradually became less mocking and progressively more jovial and unrestrained. It diminished into an amicable and serene smile; it was an expression that her countenance seemed intended to wear.

"I've missed this."

* * *

In the midst of silence, Sasuke sat in his chair, his coal eyes focused on the book in his hands. The only sound was that of his fingers against the pages as he turned them. In the tranquility of the winter night, few sounds filtered through the walls of his room, the cold seeming to freeze all movement in the outside world, leaving it in a peaceful state of stillness. Undoubtedly, people walked the streets in the frequented clubbing district of the city, but on the shore, near the college, it was rare for a human shadow to be cast by the streetlights. As he perused the novel, he wondered vaguely when a shadow in the shape of Naruto would form, as his boyfriend would walk, or more likely, stumble, from his car to the dormitory building, if he returned at all that night.

As Naruto had anticipated, when he had told Sasuke that he was invited to Sakura's party, Sasuke had declined curtly and insolently. Entering the pink-haired girl's home was an action that he would never commit. In addition, he was unwilling to accept her overt peace offering, particularly after her sudden outing with Naruto earlier that day. Although a small part of him wanted to chaperone Naruto, to ensure that he did not do anything characteristically idiotic while intoxicated, memories of Gaara's New Year's Eve party prevented him from doing so.

Sasuke realized that he had been staring at the same page for several minutes, having lost himself to his thoughts, and picked up reading from where he had left off. His eyes roamed over the pages without interruption for an amount of time long enough to allow himself to become engrossed in the fin-de-siècle world of the novel.

A single knock at his door yanked his attention away from the book. He glanced at the digital clock on the night table, noting that it was hardly past midnight. It was early for Naruto to be returning to the dorm, but his doing so for whatever reason was not implausible. In the back of his mind, the nature of the knock—the lack of loud, persistent rapping, which seemed to better suit Naruto—and the fact that he had to knock at all when he had a key, confounded him and aroused suspicion in him. In response, his mind whispered rationalizations; that he had not yet rid himself of the paranoia which sometimes afflicted him, that he was over-thinking a simple knock, and that Naruto was undoubtedly intoxicated, and thus his behavior was altered and his stupidity was amplified. Sasuke shut his book, placing it on the desk beside his chair, and walked toward the door.

He opened the door. His face had been set in its usual apathetic expression when he had first turned the knob, but as the crevice between the wall and the door grew and his gaze shifted slightly upward to meet the eyes of the person standing on the other side of the door, his disinterested countenance changed dramatically. His pupils dilated and his eyes widened to the point that they nearly bulged out of his skull. They grew wild, partly in response to the savagery the person before him incited in him, and partly as a primitive reaction to the paralyzing fear which enveloped him. His mind became frozen in a state of trepidation, empty of all thoughts, both coherent and unintelligible. He merely stared ahead with his feral, coal eyes, as the door slowly opened, moving forward due to its inertia, since Sasuke's hand had fallen from the doorknob. With each fraction of a second, the bloodstained eyes of his brother—whose penetrative gaze was directly focused on him, stabbing through his flesh, and enslaved him—were further revealed, until those eyes dominated Sasuke's vision.

Itachi's hand moved to grab the door. Sasuke continued to stare at him vacantly; he was hardly able to register what was occurring as the cessation of his thoughts was replaced with the familiar relentless stream of them. His thoughts twisted around each other chaotically, becoming entangled to the point that his mind nearly reverted back to its immobile state. But his eyes managed to dart down to see the painted fingernails which were now resting on the wooden door. The sight caused him to regain enough sense to stumble backward, but other than that, his mind could not conjure up a response.

With the door now completely open, Itachi took a single step forward and entered the room. Those eyes were devoid of all emotion, yet they somehow seemed murderous, as if the lack of empathy present in them whispered of the heinous deeds he was capable of committing without the slightest change in his apathetic countenance. Sasuke had witnessed the moment in which that disturbing vacancy had permanently entered those eyes. The gaze with which Itachi looked upon him was identical to the one with which Itachi had stared at his eight year old self when he had discovered the bloody corpses of his parents. The only aspect of Itachi which differed from that traumatic night was his clothing; he wore a dark cloak which concealed his entire body, except for his disconcertingly inexpressive face.

The threat that face presented caused his thoughts to untangle themselves enough to allow him to wonder why he was incapable of speaking and moving, or performing any sort of function, except perhaps breathing. During his avenger phase as a young teenager, he had envisioned such an encounter countless times; he had anticipated his brother's reactions, and he had planned all of his actions and words, but he had never expected himself to freeze. Sasuke told himself that he went rigid because he was different now, that he was not bloodthirsty, that he was not mindless, but part of him whispered that it was because he was surprised, that he had never actually thought that he would encounter his brother.

"Hello, Sasuke."

His mellifluous voice sounded, so perfectly smooth that it seemed dangerous, for the same reason those disquieting eyes did. Sasuke felt as if that voice vibrated throughout his body until it struck his bones and shattered them. Itachi's words seemed abrupt as they pierced through the frighteningly still atmosphere of the room and misplaced, as if any words spoken by him did not belong in that room. No part of him belonged there; the sight of Itachi, existing within his own space, was so surreal that Sasuke began to doubt his sanity. Like the other times, it was as if the image of his brother, which had been painfully cut into his mind, had been extracted from it and placed before him. Lately, fantasy and reality had been transitioning from one to the other so seamlessly that it caused Sasuke to question whether what was occurring was reality.

After resting his heavy stare on Sasuke for several moments and being met with no response, his eyes began to roam over the contents of the room. Although Sasuke merely watched the dark irises as they moved, he knew upon which items they paused: the surfboard with the fox demon design, the miniature refrigerator covered in stickers, and the framed photograph of himself and Naruto. When Itachi's eyes landed on the photo, Sasuke's heart stopped. They lingered there for an instant too long before slowly shifting to look at Sasuke once more.

"My business in the city is done," Itachi started, "so I'll be leaving, and I probably will not return." He paused briefly, taking a moment to absorb the sight of Sasuke's trembling, tense, body, and his coal eyes which seemed perpetually widened due to shock. "I'm sure that you remember what I told you the last time we saw each other. Evidently, you did not listen to my advice. Regardless, I've decided not to follow through. There is no more value in killing you now than there was ten years ago. Foolish little brother, you are that same child, still trying to survive through the ugliness of your wretched life."

Itachi turned to leave.

A part of Sasuke's mind which had been silenced and subdued throughout the encounter overpowered him; every nerve in his body screamed for him to lunge for Itachi; to grab his throat and strangle him until the light left his eyes; to reach for that box in his closet and put an end to ten years of torment by eliminating the source; to stain the entire room with Itachi's blood, like his brother had stained the floor of their home with the blood of their parents. Despite that, he remained rigid, fighting with all his strength not to submit to his bloodlust. The strain of his effort was evident; his fists were clenched so tightly that his short nails dug into his skin, and the veins running beneath the thin, pale skin of his arms seemed to become more prominent as his heart rate accelerated to the point that he could feel his pulse throughout his entire body. The breadth of his gaze narrowed until the image of Itachi's back as he walked out the door filled his vision. The door closed behind Itachi with a soft click, but Sasuke heard no sound, not even that of his own frantic heartbeat.

Sasuke stood in the center of the room, so tense that he looked as if he would shatter from the slightest touch. The expression on his face was that of excruciating pain, as if he was enduring hellfire, as he forced himself not to chase after Itachi. His body ached with the desire to unleash all the wrath and hatred which had built up within him over the years upon Itachi, but his feet remained firmly rooted to the ground. He tried to think of Naruto, in order to give himself a reason not to run wildly into the streets, searching for his brother, but his thoughts continued to return to Itachi. After several unbearable minutes, when the miniscule, rational part of his mind decided that enough time had passed for Itachi to have left the area, Sasuke released the hold he had placed over himself and collapsed onto the floor.

He dug one of his hands into the carpet, gripping the material tightly, like he was clinging to his life, and he clutched his face with his other hand. His raven hair spilled over his eyes as his head hung only a few inches above the ground. He gasped and panted as he struggled to breath; his body shook vehemently with fear, shock, anguish, and a hint of residual fury. Even with his hand covering one of his eyes, even though some part of him faintly recalled that he was in his dorm room, facing the floor with his eyes wide open, Sasuke was thrown back into the past, seeing the massacre of his family occur before him with stunning, stinging clarity.

* * *

(A/N): Another short chapter, I know, but I was very stubborn about having the final scene of this chapter be the final scene, and I didn't have much buffer material. The next chapter will probably be retardedly long, though. The downside is that it will not be up for a long while. I start college in about a day, and the curriculum is particularly rigorous, so I don't know when I'll have time to write. I wanted to post before I start, though, which is why I'm updating much earlier than usual.

Some notes: Ino was not present at the group gathering because she was in class at the time. I just couldn't find a good place to mention that in the story. She's present at the party, though, of course! In chapter 15, it is mentioned how Sakura's parents often take vacations, if anyone was wondering. And the book that Sasuke was reading was The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, for his English Literature class. :3

Also, I was going for the mood of a return to normalcy which is suddenly interrupted, if anyone feels as if Itachi's appearance was too random or incompatible with the rest of the chapter. :x


	27. The Road Not Taken

Résumé: Naruto met Sasuke through a dare involving getting him to smile, which led to Sasuke becoming Naruto's tutor and later, his friend. Meanwhile, Itachi broke out of prison and returned to the city. After Sakura broke up with Naruto, the two grew closer until they developed strong romantic feelings for each other. When Tsunade's party rolled around, Naruto asked Sasuke to be his cross-dressing date, and they shared their first kiss at the party. After some hardship, they entered into a relationship, but Sasuke's tormented past soon interfered. Soon after things have appeared to return to normal, Itachi pays Sasuke a visit, shattering his mental stability.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto. I do not own the poem, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost, from which the titled is derived. I only borrowed the title, not any of the themes, though.

_Warnings: _Fucked up stuff, sexual situations, strong language, Crazy!Sasuke, super angst, and Itachi.

_Would you be a dear and review, please? :)_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: THE ROAD NOT TAKEN**

The freezing water struck him like bullets; the cold would have pierced him to his core and numbed his body if he had not already been desensitized to all feeling. Through the dark hair that had been flattened against his ghastly countenance, his eyes stared downward at the water that spiraled into the void of the drain. Their vacancy made it seem as if the strain of all his memories flooding back to him with such vividness had caused the nerves in his mind to erupt. The stillness with which he stood prompted the question of whether a soul inhabited his body, and of how anything, such as will, could possibly exist within him to keep him standing. His disconnection from his surroundings—his inability to perceive—prevented him from hearing the sound of the bathroom door opening and seeing the reflection of a person in the mirror. The door of the shower slid open completely, moved by an inelegant hand, striking the wall loudly enough to cause some lucidity to return to him. As he slowly lifted his bowed head, his hair moved to reveal his pallid skin, his colorless lips, and his grey eyes, which remained blank as they shifted so that the person entered the corner of his vision.

Sasuke regarded each familiar aspect—the golden hair, the exposed, bronze skin, and the blue eyes—instead of taking him in as a whole. The gears in his mind began to turn slowly as he recognized who was entering the shower. His name entered his mind. Sasuke angled his body toward him, so that he could now see the entirety of him; the only item which adorned him was the necklace that hung from his neck, its aquamarine gem resting in the center of his bare chest. Although the thoughts of his mind were hardly coherent, Sasuke could discern from the nature of his smile and his glazed eyes that there was something off about him. Naruto only saw him as a whole; the details—his sallow complexion, his hollow eyes, and even the abnormality of a freezing shower in the middle of the night—were invisible to him.

He stepped into the shower, the flow of his movements disrupted, although he did not seem to be inebriated to the point that he utterly lacked coordination. He approached Sasuke, his lips stretching into a wider, seductive smile, as he murmured in a low, husky voice, "Is there room for two in here?"

Before Sasuke had a chance to consider formulating a thought, Naruto's hands were touching the frozen, white skin of his body, which might as well have been alabaster. Suddenly, his back was pressed against the cold, wet tiles of the shower and Naruto's body was pressed along the length of his own. Naruto's long fingers traced the contours of Sasuke's slim body as he locked his lips against those of Sasuke. Like Sasuke, Naruto suffered from desensitization—from understanding the reality of the situation, from fully feeling the frozen water as it struck him—but his was induced by alcohol, instead of a complete shattering of his mental stability and the destruction of any happiness or any sense of normalcy that he may have had. Sasuke's eyes remained open and his lips unmoving, although unresisting, throughout the kiss. He fell into a new type of shock, as his body was unable to deal with the physical proximity when his mind was in such a state.

Naruto ended the kiss in favor of placing his lips close to Sasuke's ear. As if just realizing that he was standing in a stream of cold water, he asked, "Why're you taking such a cold shower, huh?" He whispered with a slight slur, his voice thick with implications. The lens through which he was currently looking allowed him to see no alternative explanation. "C'mon, 'suke," he purred as he began to kiss down Sasuke's neck. "I want you to do me, this time."

Sasuke stared ahead blankly, looking through the glass of the shower door and at the reflection of himself and Naruto in the mirror; he looked at the vacant countenance which returned his stare from behind a tanned form. Despite his disoriented state, he registered Naruto's words; he said nothing, as if he had forgotten how to use his voice, but his lips parted with the desire to speak, or, more so, to attempt to communicate what had happened, and to prevent Naruto from continuing with the course of his actions. Naruto's hand began to wander down his body. Deep within him, a semblance of an emotion resembling frustration began to stir. Sasuke looked to his side, away from Naruto, at the bare wall of the back of the shower.

With an expressionless face and a flat voice, he spoke. "Itachi came."

Immediately, as if he had been struck by the force of the words, Naruto halted and pulled away from Sasuke. He stared at Sasuke, who had angled his head toward Naruto when he had stepped back, with confusion. Sasuke turned away from him, his expression indecipherable, and exited the shower without another word or without glancing at him for a second time. Naruto remained standing in the shower; his eyes, which were fixed forward, did not even shift in Sasuke's direction as he left. That name had instantly pierced through the drug-induced fog of his mind, the name which he had grown to abhor alongside Sasuke. Although his mind became much clearer, his thoughts were frozen like the water which rained down on him. As he regained some sobriety, he began to grasp the details which he had overlooked in his drunkenness; the frightening stillness of the atmosphere, the instinctual feeling that something was amiss, which permeated the environment, and the lifelessness of Sasuke. At the thought of him, Naruto's mind began to race along with his heart, which lurched with fear.

His movements still uncoordinated, due in part to the sudden panic that overcame him and in part to his residual intoxication, he turned off the water, stumbled out of the shower, fumbled to put on the clothing he had discarded, and nearly ran into the bedroom. Visions of all the worst scenarios that he could possibly imagine overwhelmed him; he wondered what Itachi had done to Sasuke, how it had affected Sasuke, and how Sasuke would choose to react. The memory of their argument over two weeks ago, having temporarily been buried by his former stupor, resurfaced, and reinforced his panic.

Upon entering the dorm room, he expected to see the Sasuke with volcanic eyes glowering at him, if Sasuke was present in the room at all, but instead he found Sasuke sitting on the bed, dressed in his nightclothes, disturbingly calm. Naruto halted, standing near the bathroom door, absorbing Sasuke's disconcerting appearance. His rapid heart rate dropped slightly, but his apprehension did not waver. Sasuke looked at Naruto, whose eyes were alight with anxiety and whose appearance was disheveled. He kept silent, appearing as if he had nothing with which to follow that devastating statement. After a few seconds of merely looking at each other, Naruto forced himself to speak; he struggled to find adequate words, having no idea on how to begin.

"Sasuke…what happened? Did…did Itachi really come…?" he asked hesitantly, his fear and concern showing through his voice. Fully aware of what a delicate situation it was, he tried to choose his words carefully, but in doing so he could hardly form an articulate sentence. Naruto knew that, despite his seeming composure, Sasuke was likely teetering precariously on the brink of mental instability. Although Sasuke's behavior was irrefutable proof that Itachi had made his presence known to him, Naruto's unwillingness to accept that which he had feared since the start of their relationship kept him in a state of incredulity.

"Yes," Sasuke deadpanned.

His inexplicable calmness worried Naruto more than anger or borderline insanity would have. With each passing second, Naruto became increasingly convinced that it was a façade, behind which some emotional state that he could not comprehend lurked. Naruto swallowed hard. He looked at Sasuke, who seemed physically unscathed, and asked himself what damage Itachi had done to him mentally. Wounds were temporary, they healed, but the impression left upon the mind was permanent. Although he could see no visible signs of harm on Sasuke, he posed the question, "Did he do anything to you?"

"No."

"He didn't try to hurt you or anything? How long was he here?" Naruto moved away from his position near the bathroom door, with the desire to close the large amount of space between them, and approached Sasuke tentatively.

"A couple of minutes."

Unable to fathom why Itachi would behave in such a strange manner, Naruto became confounded. It was not as if he had any concept of Itachi's personality, other than what he had learned from the photos, but such a visit seemed to lack a logical foundation. Naruto remembered that he could not think of Itachi, who was criminally insane, in the same way he thought of anyone else; he could not project any social expectations onto him. Even still, his mind, which was still partially clouded by alcohol, despite the gravity of the situation, could hardly understand it. "What? Why would he—"

"I don't know," Sasuke interjected, somewhat harshly, the first hint of emotion entering his voice. His fingers, which rested on the bed, began to grip the covers as his frustration and his confusion grew apparent.

"I don't know." He repeated, his voice more subdued and less rough. Now, as Naruto looked at Sasuke, he could see the reflection of the building turmoil within him.

"Sasuke…" Naruto murmured with concern as he approached Sasuke further. His eyes overflowed with the same earnestness that had filled them a few days ago, beneath the tree, and that had irritated Sasuke. In that moment, that earnestness enraged him.

"Don't come any closer," Sasuke spat venomously, a threat palpable in his tone, as well as an edge of hysteria. He could feel his previous state returning to him as the vehemence and anxiety that had surged through his veins upon seeing his brother began to flow through him once more. After he had begun a slow recovery from the force of his delusions, Naruto had appeared before him, forcing him to confront what had just occurred. To think of it—to have it flooding his mind and drowning out every other thought—was nothing with which he was unfamiliar, but to have to open his mouth and speak of it was something else entirely. "I…I can't…" Sasuke stuttered, his breathing becoming labored.

Naruto had halted with Sasuke's sharp words, somewhat wounded, although he knew that he should have learned to expect such behavior by now. The viciousness of Sasuke's voice did not bother him as much as his feelings of worthlessness did. He asked himself what he could possibly do for Sasuke if he was unable to ease his suffering, how he could keep him safe, sane, or content, and what he should do, when he never knew what to do every time Sasuke was thrown into such a state. Although he considered standing back as Sasuke had ordered, for fear of aggravating the situation by continuing to approach him, he could not stand idly by and watch the person he loved fall to pieces in front of him. Naruto sat beside Sasuke, whose eyes looked elsewhere, seeming to hardly notice Naruto's presence. Sasuke leaned against one of the wooden posts of the bunk bed, looking as if he might crumble to the ground had it not been there. His dark eyes adhered to the door in a manner that frightened Naruto. Naruto placed a tentative, trembling hand on Sasuke's thigh and whispered his name.

"Why would he…why…" Sasuke mumbled. He seemed to be speaking to himself now, most likely lost in his mind as he relived the encounter, based on the traumatized look that entered his eyes."Only to tell me…"

"What did he say to you, Sasuke?"

At the sound of Naruto's voice, he seemed to jolt back to reality, and realized that Naruto was sitting beside him, his large blue eyes fixed intently on him and his tanned hand resting on his own leg. Although the glance that Sasuke spared him was brief, it was long enough for Naruto to see the hatred pooling in his eyes and that his face was contorted with the beginnings of rage. Before he could react to what he had seen in Sasuke's face, Sasuke pushed his hand away roughly. He faced away from Naruto as he spoke. "I'm not worth killing. He went out of his way just to say that." Sasuke paused for a moment before standing abruptly. He walked to the center of the room and then turned around to display the loathing that was painted across his features. He began to speak quickly, his voice rising in volume as he did so, the desperation in his voice augmenting along with his hatred.

"Why would he come here just to say that? What kind of sick fuck would do something like that? That bastard. He's just trying to fuck with me, he knows what seeing him would do to me. Even after everything he's done to me, he can't rest without coming to fuck with me once more before leaving. He's already ruined my life once…What a sick fucking bastard. I'm not going to let him…" Sasuke trailed off, having grown so furious that it impaired his ability to speak. His feral eyes, which were alight with bloodlust, insinuated that he envisioned nothing but his brother's death before him. Naruto, having stood soon after Sasuke had done so, looked on at the sight of him in silent horror. "I'm going to get him, this is my last chance, he's leaving, my last chance to…to avenge…"

As his words faded into silence, he stiffened and trembled, as if the rage which had shaken his voice now shook his body; his falling silent had removed an outlet for his wrath, which could no longer be contained. Once more, Sasuke turned to look at the door. At that instant, Naruto realized that his stillness was that of a compressed spring, brimming with restrained energy, to the point that it would soon erupt—Sasuke would jolt toward the door, throw it open as he staggered, and run. The image of Sasuke's back growing progressively smaller as he ran, toward Itachi, away from him, caused Naruto to return to a full panic. Before that could become reality, Naruto lurched toward him and grabbed his arm so tightly that it would undoubtedly leave a bruise. He had no concept of the force he was exerting, in part due to his slight intoxication, but, for the most part, because he thought of nothing but preventing Sasuke from leaving. Sasuke's stillness came to an end as he whipped his head toward Naruto to look at the hand which held him with bulging, outraged eyes and gritted teeth.

"What the hell are you doing? Let go of me!" Sasuke shouted. His voice was uneven and uncontrolled as it bended to the will of his passion. He waited for no response from Naruto and attempted to tear his arm free from Naruto's grip. He struggled as if he was a wild animal that had been caught in a snare and was willing to lose his arm in the process of escaping. Naruto felt as if his heart was throbbing erratically. Without thought, he grabbed Sasuke's free arm roughly and pinned him against the wall. He brought his face close to that of Sasuke and stared into his dark eyes, looking for even a semblance of the Sasuke that loved him. He was met with nothing but pure hatred, which seemed to devour Sasuke's personality and render him incapable of expressing any unrelated sentiment. Those eyes looked at him, but they did not see him; they looked through him and past him to a person that was not physically present but undoubtedly lived eternally within Sasuke's mind.

"Sasuke…you can't. You won't. You're not going anywhere. I won't let you leave!" Naruto's voice, which was laced with desperation, yet retained an unremitting character, had risen to a shout. He paused briefly to wait for a response, either verbal or physical, from Sasuke, which he knew would not come. His vision was dyed the color of Sasuke's eyes as his own eyes bore into them to the point that their blackness was the only thing he could see. Anger then seized Naruto; although he had a concept of the extent of Sasuke's trauma, he grew exasperated with the entire situation, and in particular, Sasuke's folly. "If you ran out there, what would you do anyway? What would you accomplish? Chasing after him isn't going to solve anything," he rebuked, "you don't know what you're talking about, Sasuke, you can't think straight, you can't…Goddamnit, just get a grip on yourself, think for fucking a second! You're not going to do this. You're going to stay here!"

"Let the fuck go!" Sasuke screamed, recycling the same phrase, seemingly unable to think of anything but escaping from Naruto's grip. Truly blinded by his fury, he did not see Naruto, and did not acknowledge him; he merely registered that there was something holding him against the wall. When Sasuke began to struggle more ferociously, Naruto turned him around so that he was now facing the wall and held his wrists behind his back. Because Sasuke could hardly move, he remained still, and simply growled. With his face pressed against the wall as well his body, he had been forced to turn his head to the side in order to lessen his discomfort. Although Naruto could not see Sasuke's eyes, which were hidden beneath his hair, he knew that they retained their ferocity.

"Sasuke, you've got to calm down! Please! Listen, I don't want you do this to you, I hate it, but you aren't giving me a choice!"

"Let me go!" Sasuke repeated. His voice had lost the majority its desperate edge, taking on a more ominous character in its place. For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Sasuke seemed to be speaking directly to Naruto rather than to himself or an unseen, oppressive force. By holding him against the wall, rendering him immobile, Naruto had forced Sasuke to begin to calm down. The red haze over his mind began to clear since he had no choice but to think when he could not move. He began to comprehend that thrashing against the wall would not aide him in escaping Naruto's grip. Struggling was futile when he would only be subdued. _I can't do anything like this; not with him around. _Through the curtain of his dark hair, he looked at the indistinct form of Naruto behind him with clenched teeth.

"Sasuke…I'm sorry, but I can't. It's for your own good. Please, Sasuke…please. I don't want to see you like this. I don't want anything to happen to you. If you chased after him…if I lost you…I don't know what I'd do," Naruto pleaded, evidently distraught. He held his breath in anticipation for several seconds as he watched Sasuke, who was completely still, except for the periodic rise and fall of his chest as he breathed quietly.

"Let go, Naruto," Sasuke said finally, his voice even and stern. Hearing Sasuke utter his name impacted Naruto profoundly. He hesitated for a moment before responding.

"I will, if you promise that you won't do anything rash."

"I won't."

Naruto held onto Sasuke's wrists for a moment longer as he looked at what he could see of Sasuke's face for any indication that he was lying. His eyes were still hidden behind his hair. Slowly, Naruto let go of one of Sasuke's wrists. The arm he had freed fell limply to Sasuke's side and remained there. Tentatively, he brushed Sasuke's hair away from his face so that he could see the eyes that had been beneath them. Sasuke did not react to Naruto's light touch; his eyes betrayed nothing, neither reinforcing nor dissuading Naruto in his decision to trust Sasuke. After looking into his eyes for a few moments, Naruto let go of his other wrist. His second arm returned to his side in the same lifeless manner as the first one. Naruto took a small step backward, to allow Sasuke room to turn around, and so that he was no longer pressed against the wall, but Sasuke made no move to turn.

Naruto stared at Sasuke's back in disbelief; it was not as if he had expected everything to return to normal—he did not know what expectations he held—but he had retained a small hope that some part of the Sasuke that he knew would return to him. He felt himself begin to struggle to breathe as a knot gathered in his throat and his eyes began to sting with the threat of tears. Without much thought, he wrapped his arms around Sasuke in an embrace and buried his head into Sasuke's shoulder as he clenched his teeth and fought to preclude his imminent tears. When Sasuke displayed no reaction, his desire to sob augmented, as well as his simultaneous desire to prevent his tears from flowing. Despite the fact that his original intention was to release Sasuke, he found himself tightening his embrace, gently clutching onto Sasuke's shirt. When he felt Sasuke's fingers ghost over his own, his eyes, which were brimming with unshed tears and hardly open, widened to the point that a few tears escaped, and his heart lurched. For an instant, his hopes increased dramatically, but they plummeted when he realized that Sasuke's fingers were curling around his own only to remove his hand.

A strange pain struck Naruto's chest, as if he had been stabbed by an intangible arrow which could only penetrate the soul. In a manner that could be misinterpreted as tender, due to the light touch and slow movements, Sasuke lifted Naruto's hand off his chest. Inexplicably, Naruto found himself wishing that Sasuke had torn his hand from his body with a violent gesture. Because he could not bear to have his second hand removed by Sasuke, he allowed it to fall to his side before Sasuke made a move to touch it. He took a few steps backward. Sasuke turned to face him. When only his profile had been exposed to Naruto, the drastic change in his expression had not been so palpable, but now, with the entirety of his pale face revealed to Naruto, it was impossible to overlook. His countenance had been drained of all its anger, but it had left absolutely nothing behind in its wake. Naruto merely stared at the shell of a person that stood before him; Sasuke's vacancy overwhelmed him to the point that it consumed his remaining vitality.

Incapable of regarding him any longer, Naruto tore his gaze away from the voids that functioned as his eyes. He became aware of the extent of his fatigue, which was amplified by his residual intoxication, and the coldness of his body. Although he did not look at Sasuke, he could see his form in the corner of his vision; it occurred to him how easily Sasuke could escape in that moment, and, if he did, how he would likely remain standing in the room instead of chasing after Sasuke. Naruto turned to face away from Sasuke completely.

"Let's go to sleep."

He took off the clothes that he had worn that day and put on pajama pants and a sleeveless shirt. He heard the bed squeak as Sasuke entered it in acquiescence. Naruto stared blankly at his dresser for a few seconds before turning around and approaching the bed. Sasuke's raven hair had fallen across his face, hiding the majority of it from Naruto. The only telling feature which he could see was Sasuke's mouth, which remained impassive and gave him no indication of Sasuke's emotional state. The apathy that had engulfed him disappeared when he realized that he wanted Sasuke to callously refuse to sleep in the same bed as him, to climb onto the top bunk, to begin acting like himself and show some signs of life.

Naruto entered the bed, lying down behind Sasuke so that they were facing the same direction. He stared at Sasuke's back for several moments before embracing him. He felt as if he was latching onto a corpse that drained him of his warmth despite being incapable of feeling it.

* * *

_He sat facing the large backyard, with his back to Sasuke, gazing into the distance. His hands, like his expression, were empty as he stared; he was surrounded by abandoned, opened notebooks and textbooks that seemed as if they would remain untouched by him for the rest of eternity. Although he appeared to be unoccupied, Sasuke hesitated to approach him for fear of being a nuisance. That was one of the last things that he wanted to be in the eyes of his brother. His greatest desire was to come to resemble his brother as much as possible in his achievements and unmatched intelligence, and by doing so he would win the respect of both his father and brother. Sasuke's small fingers gripped the pages he was holding somewhat tightly, causing the papers to wrinkle, and he bit his bottom lip. He walked toward his brother until he stood behind him and began to speak as soon as he arrived at his position._

"_Itachi, can you—?"_

"_I'm busy," he interjected without looking at his younger brother. Sasuke was surprised that his brother had immediately noticed his presence, without so much as sparing him a glance, and thought that Itachi must have known that he had been watching him from a distance. He frowned with slight discouragement but pressed on regardless._

"_You don't look busy," Sasuke said huffily._

"_I am."_

"_No, you aren't!" He insisted with a whine. "I've been watching you for a while and you stopped doing your homework a long time ago."_

"_Fine. What is it that you want?" _

_"Well, um, I'm having some trouble with my math homework and I was wondering if maybe you could help me."_

_Itachi turned to look at him. His expression, which had been disconcertingly impassive, softened; some light entered his dark eyes and his lips curved upward almost imperceptibly. "Alright. Sit down."_

_Sasuke returned his brother's smile, although his was unrestrained and filled with the eagerness of a child. A light blush tinted his cheeks and he tightened his grip on his papers; his brother would rarely agree to help him with his homework—in part because Itachi was often overwhelmed with schoolwork, already having been accepted into a prestigious college at his young age, and in part due to his increasingly withdrawn disposition—so when it occurred, he would grow excited. He watched as Itachi moved some of the papers and books to his left, in order to make room for his little brother to sit beside him. When a space was cleared, Sasuke sat down quickly and looked up at his elder brother with enthusiasm._

_"What exactly are you having problems with?" Itachi asked._

_"Well, my teacher said that when you add fractions you've gotta find something called like the L…um," he struggled to think of the proper term as Itachi watched silently, making no move to tell him the answer. "The…L…CD?" Sasuke looked at his brother with uncertainty, seeking confirmation. Itachi nodded as his lips stretched into a small, encouraging smile. "Yeah, that!" Sasuke exclaimed, his eyes alight, but his face fell slightly as he continued after a moment of thought. "But I'm not sure what that means."_

_"It stands for the least common denominator."_

_"Oh…that's the bottom part, right?"_

_"Here, I'll show you how to do them," Itachi offered. _

_He took the papers from Sasuke's hands, his gesture an almost impossible combination of roughness and gentleness; he did not wait for any response from Sasuke before he pulled the pages away from his little brother in a manner that could be considered impolite, but he moved in such a precise, elegant fashion and the pages slid through Sasuke's small hands so smoothly that he had the impression that Itachi had acted with an element of tenderness. He observed Itachi attentively as he demonstrated how to solve the problems, doing so quickly and thoughtlessly, without sufficient explanation, and attempted to learn to the best of his ability. Although Sasuke was determined to master the subject, after a few minutes, his eyes could not help but wander upward from the page of his homework to his brother's unsmiling countenance. He wore a smile that he struggled to contain as he was filled with happiness at having an opportunity to be close to Itachi._

* * *

_"Fugaku, where have you been all evening? You were supposed to be back in time for dinner."_

_"I was held up. A few hours ago Shisui's body was found in a nearby creek."_

_"Shisui? Oh god…what happened?"_

_"A suicide note was found in his room."_

_"Suicide? Why would he do such a thing…? Itachi was so close to his cousin, I don't know how—"_

_"Why are you concerned about Itachi in such a situation? He might as well been the one who had done it."_

_"What do you mean, Fugaku? You just said that it was a suicide."_

_"I had never explicitly said that. The circumstances surrounding Shisui's death are suspicious, and I suspect that Itachi—"_

_"Fugaku! How can you speak of our son in such a way?"_

_"Because I have every reason to believe that our son is capable of such a thing! No one in their right mind would behave as Itachi has been behaving lately. He was never a particularly sociable child, but he's become so withdrawn within the past few months that it has begun to disturb me. Mikoto, he hasn't even been attending any of his classes at his university for a few weeks. Would someone in the right state of mind be so indifferent toward their future, their family, their life?"_

_"You're being too harsh on Itachi, Fugaku. Don't forget that he's still so young; he's probably just being a moody teenager. It's a difficult time for everyone at that age, but Itachi has so much pressure on him on top of all that. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must be. So you shouldn't just jump to such drastic conclusions about him, you've got to try to understand what he's going through."_

_"Even if he didn't do it, he still needs professional help."_

* * *

_The white walls enclosed him, serving as his cage, incessantly whispering of the things that society had deemed him to be; they encroached upon him, denying him his right to a life that was his own; they blinded him in their blandness, their lifelessness, and caused him to feel all the more insane, when the only thing that he could see was a continuous, colorless wall. Perhaps if he was capable of registering more than the single, unifying characteristic of his surroundings, if he did not continually fall into a state that resembled being suspended between dreaming and wakefulness, he would have noticed that there was more to the room than what he had observed. But his body, unaccustomed to the antipsychotic medication which flowed through his veins, refused to allow him to lift his head in order to regard his environment more extensively, and kept him in a perpetual state of grogginess. Occasionally, when his eyes would crack open, the corners of his vision dark and indistinct, he would catch a glimpse of a figure standing over him, and an unchanging, pitying voice would reach his ears. It would murmur 'poor Uchiha boy.'_

_ When more of his mind returned to him, he became increasingly aware of the others which existed outside of his distressingly pure, isolated world. He would remain lying in his bed with his eyes closed due to a desire not to see, to exist solely within the darkness that was the inside of his eyelids, but he could not prevent himself from hearing. Voices, in that eternal tone, would hover around him, uttering, "his brother…possible dissocial psychopathic type…genetic vulnerability…exhibiting symptoms…psychosis…schizophrenia."_

* * *

A thick layer of fog, which originated over the ocean, cast itself over the coastal city, weaving between the buildings and invading every corner. As he walked away from his car, Naruto exhaled, watching his breath, which materialized due to the cold, as it mingled with the heavy fog until one became indistinguishable from the other. He could see the movement of the fog through the air around him, unable to see much more than that because it obscured his surroundings. The sun, which rested behind the gray clouds, had not been in the sky for long; few sounds entered his ears as he walked toward the dormitory building. The silence, as well as the weather, created an eerie atmosphere that unnerved him further. With his hood pulled over his head and his hands in the pockets of his jacket, beneath which he wore his clothing for work, he approached his home with a hint of a haste that he struggled to contain showing through, his movements reflecting his subdued anxiety.

When Naruto was close enough to the building to distinguish the finer details of it, he glanced at the drawn curtains behind the window of the room that he knew to be theirs. He saw himself standing in front of that window as he had done earlier that morning, after he had awaken, observing the gray sky, the dim light ghosting over his pensive features. After everything that had happened during the night, the stillness of the room and of the morning had felt precarious, as if it could be shattered by a single harsh word or negative emotion. Within himself, he had felt frighteningly immobile as well, like the atmosphere had permeated his body. A few minutes had passed before Naruto had closed the curtains, causing the room to fall into the muted darkness characteristic of the early morning. He had turned from the window to look at Sasuke, who had been lying in the bed, with his eyes closed, his hair disheveled, and his face expressionless, as if he were a blank slate, yet uninfluenced by the world. But when he had opened his eyes—_his eyes_—Naruto recalled the image of them in his mind as he looked away from the window and continued his journey toward the dorm rooms.

Sasuke's eyes had been abysses, unchanged from the way they had looked the previous night when he had first found Sasuke in the shower. They had remained devastatingly empty, like everything that he had known to be Sasuke had been extracted from, or no longer existed in, the body before him. Whether or not he had slept at all had been unable to be determined based solely on the look of those eyes. Then, suddenly, that had faded from his eyes, replaced by a different sort of emptiness; it was one that was flat and disinterested, and did not speak of the emotional shock which had afflicted him. Sasuke had worn the eyes with which he looked at everyone else, _but_—Naruto thought, as he looked at his ill-defined reflection in the glass doors of the building, before pushing them open and entering it—_that's not how you're supposed to look at me._

_ "Good morning, Sasuke," Naruto greeted with uncertainty, his voice husky from being unused for so long. Sasuke merely looked at him without responding before sitting up and angling his body subtly away from Naruto. Silence passed between them for a few more moments, each second that Sasuke said nothing adding to Naruto's gradually building anguish. He said suddenly, without a transition, "I have to go to work."_

_ "Then go," Sasuke finally uttered, his clear, monotonic voice cutting through the air. He looked at Naruto with an apathetic expression._

_ Naruto was disheartened by Sasuke's bluntness, by his willingness to let him go so easily, but he had not truly expected otherwise from Sasuke. He knew that he would have to fight against Sasuke, who, even in his current state, was unremittingly stubborn, to remain at his side. He knew that he could not leave Sasuke, especially when he had no concept of what was occurring within Sasuke's mind._

_ What if, _Naruto thought as he opened the door that led to the stairwell, looking upward as his eyes followed the path of the steps. At first, as he climbed the stairs, he walked at the same pace, but he began to unconsciously slow down as his mind reiterated 'what if…what if…' like a broken record, refusing to complete the thought. When Naruto exited the stairwell, he looked down the long, dimly lit hallway, which seemed to stretch to infinity. He saw the door to their room at the end of the hall.

"_Are you sure?" _

"_It's not my choice. Go to work," Sasuke responded impassively._

"_Well, if you wanted me to, I could stay…I don't have to go to work."_

"_What if I said that I didn't want you to stay?"Sasuke posed, his voice devoid of defiance or cruelty, despite the nature of his words._

"_I'd stay anyway," Naruto replied firmly._

"_Then why are you asking me at all?"_

"_Because…cause I just want to know that you'll be alright, Sasuke."_

"_I'm fine."_

"_I've made up my mind. I'm staying."_

"_Don't you care about your job?"_

"_That doesn't matter. I'll be alright, what matters right now is that I stay with you."_

"_Don't be stupid. Just go to work."_

_Naruto could begin to feel Sasuke's budding irritation and knew that the conversation was traveling in the wrong direction. He bit his lip, feeling as if he had no choice but to acquiesce; he did not want to trigger anything else in Sasuke, he did not want to ruin his seeming calmness and have a repeat of the previous night. All he desired to do was to help Sasuke, and when Sasuke appeared to hold no concern for him, he rendered Naruto largely powerless against him. Naruto studied Sasuke for a few moments, his despondency beginning to return to him, before surrendering. "If I go, will you be here when I get back?" he asked earnestly._

"_Yes," Sasuke answered without a second of hesitation. Despite that, his body was still angled away from Naruto and his eyes were looking at something other than Naruto._

Naruto stood in front of the door to their room. He took the key out of his pocket, slid it into the lock, and twisted it so that he could open the door.

"_Promise me that."_

_Sasuke's eyes shifted until they landed on Naruto. He locked his indecipherable eyes with the expressive ones of Naruto. After a moment, he spoke. "I promise."_

Naruto stepped into the room to find that it was in a state of disarray. Sasuke was nowhere to be found. He noticed a photo lying on the floor and he picked it up. He stood in the center of the room, with the Uchiha family portrait in hand, allowing desolation to overcome him.

* * *

A/N: Although schizophrenia is mentioned, to clarify, Sasuke isn't schizophrenic. Following the massacre, he exhibited symptoms of schizophrenia, so the doctors suspected that he may have had it. The symptoms only persisted for a period of less than six months, though, so it was diagnosed as schizophreniform disorder, which is different. I think that episodes of the disorder can occur later on if triggered by something, but I'm not sure…I'm a physics major, not a psych major haha. So for those savvy in psychology out there, please correct me if I am wrong.

Also, I mentioned in a previous author's note, that of chapter 23 to be exact, that Naruto has a job which I never devoted time to mentioning, because it was largely unimportant. He got a job as a waiter at Ichiraku's. In this chapter, he was supposed to work the morning shift, and it opens relatively early on Saturdays, but he left work after being there for less than an hour.

**Update: The first scene of the next chapter is on my livejournal. Follow the link on my profile.**


	28. A Warm Place

Summary: Naruto met Sasuke through a dare involving getting him to smile, which led to Sasuke becoming Naruto's tutor and later, his friend. Meanwhile, Itachi escaped from prison and returned to the city. After Sakura broke up with Naruto, the two grew closer until they developed strong romantic feelings for each other. After some difficulty, Naruto and Sasuke enter a relationship, but Sasuke's past soon interferes. One evening when Naruto is out, Itachi pays Sasuke a visit, shattering his mental stability. Naruto returns late that night and prevents Sasuke from doing anything rash, but the next morning, while Naruto is at work, Sasuke disappears.

**SMILE**

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto. This chapter is named for the song of the same name on Nine Inch Nail's album _The Downward Spiral_, the rights to which I obviously do not own. I chose the title because the song has a similar function within the context of the album as do important moments in this chapter (in my opinion, at the very least)

_Warnings: _Language, fucked up stuff, more Crazy!Sasuke, and super duper angst.

_For Sonruya-chan, my friend and devoted reader. Happy early birthday!_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: A WARM PLACE**

Unsteadily, but perpetually, one heavy foot fell in front of the other, each step bringing him closer to his indefinite destination, to insanity, and farther away from Naruto. As his legs swung, so did the world around him, in reflection of the violent, capricious emotions within him, which swung from one extreme to the other. The world trembled in manifestation of the shaking his mind had endured the previous night. It was as if he stood upon a ship, caught in the turbulent storm of his own mental instability, the crests the peaks in his madness and the troughs the pit of his desolation. He struggled to remain upright, unaware of how precariously close he teetered to the edge, to being drowned by his own rage. He moved without sight and without direction, albeit not without an indistinct, convoluted purpose, which served to drive him forward.

Despite the fury of the storm within him, his inner turmoil was not evident in his appearance, except for his restless eyes that spoke quietly of his terror. Although he moved erratically, he did not blatantly stumble. Upon looking at him, it would be difficult to identify every movement that revealed the nature of his mental state, but by the combination of his subtle movements, one could discern that there was something wrong with him. It was only enough for the faceless passersby to momentarily cast their attention to such a troubled existence before carelessly shifting their gazes forward once more, bringing to an end the brief instant in which they glimpsed the miserable life of Sasuke Uchiha.

More than they did not see him, he did not see them, although they flowed around him like a callous river, moving in such a way that nothing, including the traumatized Sasuke, could halt their advance. To him, they were less than people, less than mere obstacles in his path; they were a swarm that seemed to exist around him naturally, as part of the environment of the strange world he had been living in for nearly half a day.

The amount of time that had passed since he had entered the world that was subject to the influence of his mind was lost to him. Linear time was not a concept that he could grasp in such a state. If he was capable of measuring time's passage, it would have been cyclical, following the tides of his emotion; he would have realized that it had been approximately eight hours since his brother had appeared to him. He would have realized the futility of his search. So onward he trudged in his mindlessness, or rather, in the excess of being within his own mind, between the rising buildings and beneath the grey, overcast sky.

Behind the clouds, beyond the vision of those entrapped below them, the sun continuously rose higher. He walked until he felt as if he was no longer moving through the river of blurred faces, but instead as if its rate of flow had increased as he stood still. Although his eyes were unfocused and the features of those who surrounded him seemed unclear, he managed to catch a glimpse of an attribute that struck a chord in his memory. Long, silken hair that was the color of dark alleyways and the night on a moonlit, winter evening swayed gently with the slight movements of a passerby. A small hand was clasped firmly by the larger, caring hand of the stranger. Sasuke's vision tunneled, sharpening in clarity, his eyes widening, until he could see nothing but the image of the stranger holding the hand of the dark-haired child. He became like a rock in the river, disrupting the flow, as the passersby adjusted their trajectories to his halted existence. A couple of them brushed against him roughly, not having anticipated his abrupt stop, but he had no attention to spare on anything other than the scene before him.

The stranger looked casually to the side while waiting at the crosswalk, in doing so noticing the conspicuous stare, frightening in its intensity, of the young adult standing in the midst of a moving crowd. In turning to look at him more fully, the stranger revealed herself to be a young woman. She cast him a hard glance before turning away to usher her younger brother across the street. Even after they had disappeared from his sight, he looked on in the direction in which they had left. The longer he stood, the more the rhythmic tapping of footsteps, the rumbling of cars, and unfamiliar voices crawled into his ears and his head. As he became more aware of his surroundings, his self-awareness increased as well, until he understood the reality of his situation. Despite his newfound lucidity, he remained anchored to the same spot; it was not raptness that held him, though, as before, but a feeling of desolation that inevitably followed such comprehension. For the briefest moment, uncertainty shook him, and for the first time in a long time, his thoughts wandered to Naruto.

If only he had not prevented Sasuke from leaving when the thought to do so had finally fought its way through the shock that afflicted him. The likelihood of encountering his brother in the streets of the city would still have been miniscule, but he convinced himself that he would have found his homicidal brother, his beloved brother, if only it had not been for Naruto. Sasuke said the name aloud in his mind; it reverberated through him and it forced him to envision Naruto. But his lips were not smiling, as they often did, although they were stretched and contorted into the form that the mouth takes as one screams. Naruto yelled without words, the sound omitted from Sasuke's memories, but his words were rendered unnecessary by his expressive eyes. Sasuke recalled the look of fear that Naruto wore as he emerged from the bathroom, the pain that filled his eyes as he turned his back to Sasuke, and Naruto's hesitant hand as he placed it on his black and orange jacket.

As he put the jacket on, he faced away from Sasuke and toward the door. His movements were unrushed, seeming almost deliberately slow, as if he wished to drag out the moment for as long as possible. Sasuke remained sitting on the bed, not having moved since soon after he had awakened. He seemed to project the vacancy that characterized his eyes onto the room that he and Naruto shared; he looked at nothing, as if all that surrounded him did not exist.

Without apparent transition, Naruto went from standing on the other side of the room to being directly in front of Sasuke. For a moment, blue filled the majority of his vision, before it was extinguished by Naruto's falling eyelids. The brief contact between their lips temporarily shattered the wall between Sasuke and the rest of the world that he had recently reconstructed to greater heights and impenetrability than before. His memory of that instant was not vague or incomplete as it was for what he managed to recollect of the past half-day—it was photographic in comparison. He remembered the ephemeral, revitalizing touch of Naruto's lips, Naruto's quiet, nearly quivering exhale following the kiss, and the subtle rustle of his clothing against his skin as he drew away. One last time, Naruto looked at Sasuke, his expression revealing what he knew within himself, but refused to acknowledge.

"_I'll see you when I get home, Sasuke."_ Naruto left.

And Sasuke was alone.

* * *

An incessant ringing filled Sakura's ears, bombarding her from every direction, reaching into her dreams as she slumbered in its determination to awaken her. The sound gave the illusion of growing in volume as she emerged gradually from her unconsciousness. When her emerald eyes shone for the first time since the sun had risen, she found that her vision was somewhat blurred, inciting uncertainty in her concerning her location. Once the blurriness subsided, she realized that she was lying in her bed and staring at one of the walls of her room. As the ringing persisted, she noticed its melody and recognized that it was the sound of her doorbell.

Abruptly, the ringing ceased, and hardly a second had passed when her phone began to vibrate on her night table. The vibration caused her phone to slowly move across the table until it hit her glass bong, which amplified the vibrations, causing her great annoyance. Although still groggy and with a hint of a hangover, she resolved to get out of her bed, but she was hindered by the limp arm and leg that were draped over her. With irritation, Sakura shoved off Ino's limbs and sat up. Ino rolled over and continued sleeping. By the time Sakura had answered her phone, she had already missed two calls.

"Open your door," she heard a familiar voice demand. His tone was unyielding, with a sense of urgency that made Sakura nervous. She hesitated before responding, giving herself a moment to think as concern budded within her. The blatant lack of any sort of greeting, specifically one of an amiable nature, as Naruto was wont to giving, told her that there was something amiss.

"…Naruto?" Sakura asked doubtfully, although she knew it was him.

"Yes. Open your door," he reiterated firmly.

"Wait, what are you doing here? Last night, I thought you said that you had to go to work—"

"Listen, Sakura," Naruto interjected, his tone adopting an edge of desperation, "please, can you just let me in? Please…" His voice dropped in volume and completely abandoned the forcefulness that it had commanded mere moments earlier. Sakura was taken aback by the erratic nature of his emotions, which was so prominent that it was conveyed even over the phone. In a matter of seconds, his voice jumped from sounding as if it was about to erupt into a shout due to ill-controlled frustration to dripping with despondency. The disturbing call had held her attention so raptly that she had not been aware of her own movements toward the door of her room.

"O-okay…I'll be down in a second. Just stay where you are, Naruto."

Instead of responding, he ended the call. Sakura removed her phone from her ear and looked at it with puzzlement as she hovered at the door. She tried to rid herself of confusion as she strode down the hall so that she could have some hope of being capable of handling the undeniably negative situation that she was about to let into her home. As she passed the wide-open double doors of the master bedroom, she observed with displeasure that some of her guests, Kiba, and a gorgeous dark-skinned girl that he had brought with him, Karui, had found their way into her parents' bed. Once she had descended the stairs, she encountered Tenten exiting the guest room, dressed in her work attire.

"Oh, good morning, Sakura," Tenten greeted with a smile. Her large eyes had briefly widened with pleasant surprise when she had taken notice of her pink-haired friend. "I didn't think that anyone would be awake at this time except for me, considering how much everyone drank last night." She laughed affably before continuing. "Not even your doorbell woke those drunkards up. What was up with that, anyway?" She placed a hand on her hip and tossed Sakura a quizzical glance.

"You would be the only one awake if Naruto didn't happen to be at my door," Sakura explained, her tone proving to be more sober than she had intended. Her words caused Tenten's genial expression to change; the corners of her lips tilted downward to form a small frown and her eyebrows knit. She knew as well as Sakura did that Naruto was never the harbinger of good news when he appeared unannounced at a doorstep.

"Do you know what he's doing here? I thought that he said he couldn't stay over because, unlike me, he's incapable of waking himself up for work after partying all night."

"That's what I thought, too, but I guess he didn't go—" The doorbell began to sound again and brought the girls' conversation to a sudden halt. The manner in which Naruto pressed the doorbell made his impatience and anxiety evident. With each time that his finger made contact with the bell and the sound resonated throughout her, Sakura felt his panic augment. She exchanged glances with Tenten to confirm that they shared the same fears and suspicions.

"Come with me," she urged. Tenten nodded, her face set in determination, and followed Sakura. They passed through the living room, stepping over Lee, who had passed out on the floor, in the process. All the noise seemed to have brought Gaara and Shikamaru, who were stretched across the couches, to the verge of wakefulness. By the time the girls had reached the door, the ringing of the doorbell had been replaced by the drum of Naruto's fist against it. When Sakura's hesitant fingertips brushed the cool metal of the doorknob, the rapping halted as suddenly as it had begun. The silence of the early morning returned.

As the despair that Naruto attempted to smother with his anguish and anger fought its way to the surface of his emotions, his fist landed on the door with a thud and did not rise once more. He leant against the door, allowing it to support the entirety of his weight, having lost the will to carry it anymore. What he did desire, though, was to be let inside the house, to escape the loneliness of its exterior, where he had no one to help him, where it was only himself and his failure. He needed something, or someone, to sustain him. When the door cracked open, it swung open heavily with the force of Naruto's weight, causing the girls to stumble backward. Once the door had opened completely and revealed Naruto to them, they stared at him with apprehension.

He raised his eyes, which were exhausted and broken, to look at Tenten and Sakura. In them, the near constant torment of the past eight hours was evident. Regardless, his eyes managed to retain a spark of vitality, which was fueled by his self-directed anger. When he saw that the girls were silently returning his gaze, he attempted to harden his expression in vain. Naruto looked at them with borderline incredulity, as if in failing to answer the door immediately, they had betrayed him. "What took you so long?" he demanded harshly.

"…are you alright, Naruto?" Sakura asked with worry, as well as wariness.

"What happened?" Based on his demeanor—and the fact that he was clad in the white shirt and black apron of his server's uniform while being far from his workplace—Tenten knew it was not a matter of whether something distressing had occurred.

When he was faced with their concern, which withstood his slight hostility, his transparent veneer of animosity crumbled. "I…I need to talk to all of you. I need your help. Sasuke…Sasuke's gone." His voice as he uttered those last few words was devastating to hear.

"What do you mean, gone?" Sakura's heart lurched at his words.

"Last night…" He began, despite having no idea of where to begin. He found himself struggling to find words that could convey a semblance of the situation's complexity, the fuse of which extended back many years. As the night's events rushed painfully back to him at once, he soon found it difficult to speak at all.

Sakura looked within her mind and recalled images of the past, comparing them to the distraught sight of Naruto before her. She remembered the blithe and impish Naruto, a remnant of which she knew remained in the present Naruto, but could not see no matter how deeply she tried to look. Before she was conscious that she had conjured the thought, it appeared in her mind; _Sasuke is destroying him. _A strange pang struck her at the full comprehension of the thought. Impulsively, she placed her hand on Naruto's back and began to lead him inside. Tenten closed the door after them. Sakura glanced over her shoulder to look at her.

"I'm going to take him upstairs and try to sort out exactly what happened." As she spoke, her hand slid from his back to his wrist, around which she firmly wrapped her fingers. Tenten's eyes darted briefly to Sakura's grip before settling onto her face again.

"I'm calling in sick," Tenten stated. She did not leave any room for protest, removing her phone from her pocket, turning on her heel, and walking toward the guest room as soon as she finished speaking.

Naruto followed without resistance as Sakura led him upstairs. But he did so due to lassitude instead of compliance. Sakura gripped his wrist more tightly, feeling the heat that radiated off his skin and into her hand, to reassure herself of the life that still flowed through him. Bearing in mind that both her room and her parents' room were occupied, she stopped in the part of the hallway between the rooms, with the hope that the seclusion would encourage him to speak. She wanted to lock eyes with him, but he looked downward. Slowly, her fingers unfurled and she released his wrist. Both of their hands fell to their sides and they stood on their respective sides of the hallway, the emptiness of the corridor between them.

"Tell me what happened, Naruto." Her voice was soft and her eyes were earnest. For an instant, Naruto lifted his gaze to meet hers, but then he looked away quickly, as if he could not bear to make eye contact in his condition. To look through the window of another human being and see their pity for him laid bare would drive him to collapse. With his eyes largely averted, he opened his mouth to speak.

"When I came back from work, Sasuke wasn't there…He promised me that he would be there, but I…I knew that he was lying, that's why I came back. Even still, I…"

"Hold on a second, Naruto." She placed her hand on his arm gently in an attempt to comfort him. "You need to rewind a bit here. Why did Sasuke leave?"

"His brother came and visited him last night, and I wasn't there," he whispered. "I wasn't there when I should have been." His eyes were still downcast and his voice was characterized by remorse.

She realized how little Naruto had confided in her as of late, and how little she had noticed the subtle changes in his demeanor that revealed the depth of his troubles. There had been that sudden escape to the south and that sober moment over coffee, but other than that she had been in the dark, and thus ill-prepared to deal with the current situation. It was one thing when all that stood between Naruto and Sasuke was the latter's emotional handicap, but another thing altogether when what separated them was Sasuke's criminally insane brother. The details of Sasuke's past were unknown to her; she had only heard rumors concerning the murder of his parents and his subsequent institutionalization. With such limited knowledge, Sakura felt powerless to help Naruto. And vaguely, she wondered if anyone was capable of helping someone like Sasuke.

"Wait," she began tentatively, "I'm confused. Did Sasuke leave during the night, or did he leave on his own?"

"No, he left this morning, and I let him leave. I don't know why I left. I knew what would happen. I knew, and yet I still left," Naruto murmured to himself, his tone growing increasingly more unsettling as he spoke. His fingers curled into a trembling fist as his body visibly tensed. His eyes, which still refused to look at her, widened in unrest. His growing tension did not escape Sakura, so she tried to choose her words carefully.

"If he left after you went to work, then you didn't let him leave, Naruto," she said cautiously, as if she was dealing with a fragile object that could be broken by her words. "Sasuke's actions are not your fault. I'm sure that you did as much as you could have, and what you thought to be the best thing to do at the time, so don't be so hard on yourself. And you really can't blame yourself for not being present when Itachi"—at the sound of the name, Naruto lifted his head and looked at her with eyes simmering with hatred. Sakura paused briefly, her mouth slightly open in surprise, until she saw that Naruto remained immobile and silent, with watchful eyes that expected her to continue. She did so with hesitance. "I—I mean, when his brother visited him. No one could have predicted that, so it's unreasonable feel guilty for not having been there. Besides, who knows what would have happened if Itachi had visited and found a stranger there, so maybe it's—"

"No, you're wrong! You don't understand!" Naruto shouted, his voice seeming to fill every corner of the silent house. He gripped Sakura's arms tightly enough to make it physically uncomfortable; her back made contact with the wall as she stumbled backward in fright at his sudden, violent movements. His feral eyes bore into hers, which were wide with disbelief more than they were with fear. "I didn't do everything that I could have, I let this happen, I could've stopped him, I could've done so much more. If I had been there when Itachi had arrived, I could've taken him down. I would've torn him to shreds for everything that he did to Sasuke, for daring to get near him again, for everything that he did to me! If I had really loved Sasuke, if I…."

He exhaled shakily. The wildness in his eyes disappeared, submerged beneath the flood of the mixture of emotions that had been stifled by his momentary rage. He still held on to Sakura, but he no longer gripped her as tightly. "I was weak. I was tired of all this. I don't have any excuse. How could I have done this to Sasuke? I could have prevented all this. I could have protected him!" His voice fluctuated drastically in volume, from a muted, somber tone to returning to a shout.

Tears welled in Sakura's eyes. She would have liked to think that she was strong enough to maintain her composure after being yelled at in such a disconcerting way, by the person she loved most, no less, and for the most part, that was true. Much of what drove her to tears was witnessing Naruto's anguish so palpably that it became hers. When Naruto saw her tears, his expression changed; his eyes widened in disbelief and a hint of horror, his eyebrows knit upwards, and his lips parted slightly. There was shuffling to his right. He turned his head quickly to see that Ino was standing in the doorway of Sakura's room. Her long hair was loose and tangled, her clothing was wrinkled, and her eyes held no trace of sleep, but of astonishment instead. Naruto heard Neji and Tenten ascending the stairs.

He released Sakura and walked swiftly into the room, past Ino, his gaze directed downward with shame. He walked to the back of Sakura's room, facing the east wall. The dull light that managed to permeate the thick cloud cover shone through the windows and onto him. Naruto closed his eyes tightly, a few tears slipping out, and gripped the lump of paper in his pocket. He sensed that Ino, Neji, and Tenten had collected near the door, warily watching his rigid back, and that Sakura approached him with soft steps. Undoubtedly, her eyes were fixed on the hand that was buried in his pocket. He removed the crumpled paper from his pocket and held it in his hand loosely until she slowly took it from him.

Sakura laid eyes on the Uchiha family portrait, and through its creases and burnt edges, in an instant she understood more than she could have ever hoped to comprehend with hours of explanation.

* * *

Alone, he sat on the grass. Alone, as he often found himself, regardless of where he went. Whether it was his home, where he was a murderer in the eyes of his father, whose love for his wife twisted grotesquely into abhorrence for their son, since the day he took his first breath. Whether it was his school, where he gave voice to the misanthropy that was planted within him, and treated those around him with cruelty. Irrespective of his location, that element of his life would remain. Of that he had been certain, until the moment that a blond boy had approached him without a seeming reason, offering him a smile. It was a moment that he had relived many times, this time in the form of a dream, where there was nothing in the world but the patch of grass on which they had first met.

There, in the dark depths of his mind, he dreamt. The pollutants that he had put in his body had submerged him further than he had been in a long while. But the noises that surrounded him caused him to almost resurface as they augmented in volume, only to send him back downward, swallowing water, when they diminished. For some time, he dwelled in the strange realm that lay between wakefulness and sleep, hearing, but not seeing, as if he was trapped within himself. The various sounds that filled the Haruno home warned him of what was occurring—a continuation of what had been occurring since the near beginning of his freshman year of college.

A hand grabbed a hold of him and shook him awake. Below the red hair that now hid his tattoo, his green eyes cracked open. The blurred image of Tenten appeared before him. _Gaara, wake up and head upstairs. _As he fought grogginess, he closed his eyes in a slow blink. When he opened them once more, he found that Tenten was no longer standing before him. Her voice floated in the room as she spoke to the others around him, Lee and Shikamaru, waking them as well and asking them to leave. Such an awakening was undeniably abrupt and confusing, but as soon as they heard the unsettling voices coming from upstairs, they seemed to grasp that something was amiss and complied in taking their leave. As Tenten saw them out, Gaara forced himself to stand. He lifted one heavy leg after the other as he climbed the stairs, toward Naruto's indistinct voice, until he stood at the entrance to Sakura's room.

The moment that he looked upon the scene in the room, it became unnecessary for anyone to inform him of anything. His eyes immediately focused on Naruto, whom Sakura sat beside, one of her arms resting on his back in a comforting gesture, while the other held a crumpled piece of paper. Naruto's face was gripped in his hand, concealed from view. He trembled gently with each shaky breath, yet each successive one grew more even, as a strange stillness seemed to overtake him. Although Gaara did not know the exact details, he already knew more than enough. Never in the four years that he had known Naruto had Gaara seen anyone affect him as profoundly as Sasuke did.

His countenance was without expression as he watched in silence. Although the impassive face he wore seemed to speak of his indifference, indignation stirred beneath his thin layer of skin. Because the scene before him held no surprise, he held his tongue; regardless of whether he chose to express his sentiments, the situation would remain. The little that he knew of Sasuke told him that the Uchiha would always be problematic, though that in itself was of no concern to him. Whereas Sasuke was defined by his difficulty, Naruto was defined by his determination and devotion. And so as Sasuke spiraled further downward into the abyss of his hatred and obsession, Naruto would follow and let himself be slowly suffocated. It pained Gaara to see the smile that had been so generously given to him distorted into something unrecognizable—a grimace that could have been worn by many people, but did not belong on him.

He averted his eyes from Naruto. They wandered to Ino and Neji, who stood nearby the two figures on the bed, watching as quietly as he had. In contrast to his mask, Ino's face was riddled with concern, her large eyes wide and focused on her troubled friends. As usual, Neji managed to retain his composure, except for the slight frown that he allowed to show through. It did not take long for him to notice the eyes encircled by blackness that rested on him. When Neji shifted his gaze toward him, Gaara moved from his position in the hall, just before the doorway, and stepped forward into the room. The girls turned to look at him when the edges of their eyes glimpsed his movement.

He spared them a glance before his eyes fixed themselves once more on the broken form on the bed. So broken that Gaara could not help but wonder why he hid his face; _perhaps he wishes to not even have a face for others to recognize him by. _Slowly, Naruto lifted his face from his hand. He must have felt the stare that bored into him and silently demanded that he meet the gaze with his own. Irises that were once like the ocean, vivacious and mercurial, swelling with passions, had stilled and become like ice, revealing the frozen state of his core. Yet the cold, blue pain that had rendered him in such a state still managed to swim through them. His eyes, as they appeared in that instant, were etched into Gaara's mind with striking clarity. For a moment, his composure faltered; his eyes widened and his jaw went slack. But then Naruto tore his eyes away from Gaara and turned slowly to face the window.

"Gaara…." Sakura began, interrupting the heavy silence in the room, although it was clear that she did not know how to continue. As soon as he heard her voice, he looked at her sharply, effectively precluding any further attempts on her part to address him. His gaze contained all the harshness that his controlled voice lacked as he spoke.

"What did Sasuke do?" He asked, although he already knew the answer—as they all knew, but refused to state so bluntly.

Sakura's eyes narrowed into a reprimanding glance, but she said nothing. She glanced to her side to briefly look at Naruto, who remained silent as he gazed outside, his countenance uncharacteristically devoid of expression. It had not escaped Gaara's notice, though, that soon after he had uttered Sasuke's name, Naruto had closed his eyes, almost as if in pain, and inhaled sharply. Gaara found that his fingers began curling to form a fist.

Several long seconds had passed without an offered answer, so Sakura took it upon herself to respond. "He…" she started, but stopped herself, seeming as if she had changed her mind about what she would say. "Sasuke is in trouble. He's not in the right state of mind and he's wandering the streets. We need to go find him." Her voice was laced with urgency and determination. Within it, Gaara also heard the words he felt as if she had left unsaid: _That's all you need to know_.

Although resentment simmered within him, his face remained inexpressive as he mulled over her words. Inwardly, he fiercely demanded why he had to search for Sasuke when all he had caused them was suffering, when all he had done to Naruto was suck the life from him, changing him from the person that Gaara had first met years ago—the Naruto who had changed him. He entertained the idea that it would be for the better if they left Sasuke to wander the streets, unstable as he was, to let whatever may happen to him happen, and to allow him to exercise his volatile will. For an instant, Gaara considered that, perhaps, in such a way, Naruto could free himself from Sasuke. He fooled himself with that thought until he looked at Naruto once more.

Uncontrolled rage or irrepressible tears would have unsettled him less than Naruto's deeply perturbing demeanor that was a distorted shadow of calmness. Gaara struggled to swallow his realization that there was no way for Naruto to free himself from someone who had become a part of him—a necessity in his life, an addiction, which he could no longer survive or function without, although it harmed him repetitively. And when he looked at Naruto, he knew that he would not refuse to search for Sasuke. Sasuke, who was nothing more than a child, whose life had halted at age eight; who had the same desires as his eight-year-old self, and Gaara dared to think perhaps even the same level of maturity. Sasuke, who he disliked since the moment his attention had been directed to him by Naruto. If he did anything other than assent, he knew it would only destroy what was left of Naruto.

So when the time came, wordlessly, he descended the stairs along with the rest of them.

He stepped into the gloom of the morning, halting briefly on the front steps as he allowed his surroundings to penetrate him. The amorphous clouds had merged to replace the sky with a wraithlike grey glow that made the entire world seem to him merely an endless stretch of land encased by nothingness. The crisp air flowed through him as he inhaled deeply, biting him from the inside, like thousands of needles. Once Gaara had exhaled, he walked toward his car, to begin the fruitless search for Sasuke Uchiha.

Time passed slowly as he slowly drove. His eyes scanned over the mass of innumerable people that roamed the streets as he searched for a head of raven hair and a pair of restless eyes—for someone whose appearance had become so familiar to him against his will, yet on which whose countenance in such a mentality he could only speculate. He was aware that he knew little of Sasuke's mindset, although he considered that perhaps he knew enough, having seen its reflection in the expression of Sasuke's lover. As he looked for the face he thought he might know, faceless strangers, soon to be forgotten, flashed in his mind for a brief moment of time. So futile was his search to single out one among so many, particularly when he questioned whether he truly wished to find Sasuke, although he had resigned himself to do so.

The blare of a car's horn seized his attention. Gaara's eyes swerved to the screaming car that barreled toward a pedestrian who slowly crossed the street. Ahead of him, where the pavement began anew, the image of a warning hand glowed orange. The car veered to avoid him with a slight screech of its tires, continuing onward after steadying. The pedestrian halted for a moment, but it was a moment too late for normalcy; it seemed as if he had only registered the existence of the car after it had passed by him—whether he had any sense of the danger it presented was unclear. The instant that Gaara's head was not filled with the cry of the horn, the less than glaring details of the scene came to him. His hair, his clothing, his gait, his demeanor—Sasuke.

A sudden jolt of anxiety stabbed Gaara in his chest and adrenaline burst through him. His fingers clenched the steering wheel, his body tensed, his widened, alert eyes adhered to his assigned target. An instant passed, and then there was no hesitation. He parked in the first available space he saw, climbed out of his car, and ran across the street, through traffic, toward Sasuke, seeing nothing else. A fire ignited inside of him, fueled by his building rage, burning through his veins and boiling his blood. The flames licked at his mind, setting it into a frenzy, causing it to regurgitate memories of his encounters with him, of thoughts of him, all colored by a smoldering disdain that was warping into near hatred. Mercilessly, Gaara wanted to subdue him, to beat him, to deliver him back to Naruto.

"_Sasuke_!" he shouted viciously, the force of his yell echoing throughout him. He stood on the sidewalk, deceptively still, his blistering stare boring through strands of crimson hair and into the back of Sasuke Uchiha. The sound of his name called so vehemently seemed as if it had broken through the false reality that had engulfed him; he halted for several long seconds before turning to face Gaara.

Startling onyx eyes emerged from his pallid, thin countenance, piercing Gaara, burrowing into the depths of his flesh, until they reached a place where a reflection of a young teenager in a mirror resided; his pale skin cracked, revealing nothing but emptiness beneath it, and his sleepless green eyes seethed with malice and misanthropy. Gaara tore his eyes away from those of Sasuke and his former self crawled back within him. Disquiet took hold in the back of his mind and his fury wavered to a simmer. When he returned his gaze to Sasuke, he was not met with recognition, but with the look of an unfulfilled expectation, as if Sasuke had anticipated that someone else would be standing in his place.

Sasuke remained immobile, but far from rigid, as he scrutinized Gaara; it appeared as if he was prepared to vanish into one of the many nearby alleyways at the first moment he felt it necessary. Gaara saw the beginning of that moment in the acknowledgment that flashed across Sasuke's features—and in the subsequent distrust. He heard his voice pouring out of himself before he had even thought to speak. His words spanned the several feet of pavement that separated them and held Sasuke there.

"Sasuke," he stated firmly, "I'm here to take you back to Naruto."

At the mention of Naruto, Sasuke's face contorted into an indecipherable expression that undoubtedly reflected the variety of emotions that the name had caused to surface all at once, all too quickly. When he regained himself enough so that he was capable of escaping the snare of his own mind, he focused all of his attention onto Gaara. His dark eyes had grown wilder and his regard harsher, yet Gaara could not rid himself of the impression that a strange and desperate desolation lay at the foundation of his manner.

"Get away from me," Sasuke warned in a low, feral growl.

"As much as I would like to, I'm not leaving you alone until it's time to kick your ass out of my car and onto Sakura's doorstep," Gaara retorted, uncompromising, as a peculiar determination began to take root where before there had only been exasperation. He took a single step forward, his steady gaze never moving from Sasuke.

"Fuck off!" Sasuke screamed violently, his face twisting to conform to his madness. Briefly, it seemed as if he might act—that he might turn away and run from the confrontation, from reality, or that he might lunge toward Gaara—but he merely stood his ground as he writhed with what seemed at first to be anger, but with each passing moment became more like pain. Gaara continued relentlessly.

"Listen, Uchiha, I don't like you. The only reason you are worth anything to me is because you are everything to Naruto. So, for his sake, I'm not going to fuck off, no matter how much I would like to. If you care about him at all, let me take you to him."

His tone was unsympathetic, yet frank throughout his speech. When he finished, he waited, watchful, for his response. No longer did it seem as if Sasuke would flee; Gaara had captured him with his words—most notably the word 'Naruto.' He need only to slip it into his sentences as often as he could, or perhaps utter nothing but the name at all, and each time the torture would bring Sasuke closer to submission. He looked on as Sasuke winced, as if struck by a migraine, and covered most of his face with his hand, leaving visible only a shockingly savage eye.

"Just….shut up," Sasuke gasped as he struggled to speak. "Don't mention…"

"Naruto?" Gaara asked provokingly.

Through the disheveled raven hair that spilled over his forehead and the trembling fingers that gripped his face, Sasuke glowered at Gaara as if he was the sole source of his past and present agony. His ferocity had given him a façade of strength and vitality, but it crumbled as his body threatened to collapse. Although Gaara had some knowledge of the Uchiha's troubled past, intimations of his frame of mind, and had seen the wan coloring of his skin and his restless eyes, his resentment had disallowed the truth of it all to reach him until now. Neither could he ignore the implications of the profound effect of Naruto's name on Sasuke; part of Sasuke was still deeply connected to Naruto, although he was unsure whether the nature of the connection was defined by loathing or some distorted form of love. In Gaara's eyes, nothing could ever excuse all the suffering Sasuke had caused Naruto, yet he found himself beginning to speak less harshly and more earnestly.

"Living for revenge won't solve anything, Sasuke. It only makes your own life all the more miserable, it causes you to endanger and harm yourself, and others….and Naruto." When Gaara saw the anger gradually seeping away from Sasuke's eyes, he knew that his words were resonating with him. "It's not too late for you to return to your life with him, you know. Wasn't that better than escaping into your own world, possessed by hatred? Try to remember for a moment what it was like to be with him, to be capable of forgetting all of your past woes, at least temporarily…"

Sasuke remembered. It began with a quiet laughter that arose from the recesses of his mind, echoing through his skull hauntingly, growing in volume until he could hear nothing else, until it silenced his every thought, until he could not take it any longer and it materialized outside of him and became reality. The laugher belonged to Naruto. He stood before Sasuke as dozens of people behind him meandered through the fair. His lips were curved upward in an exuberant and stunning smile, the brightness of which gradually diminished as his smile took on a more ardent quality. It was the smile that had melted the last piece of ice coating his heart. This time, he would not shy away from his urge to kiss him. Sasuke moved forward, closer to Naruto, to bury a hand into his hair and bring his lips down to meet his own.

A bell jingled, a door swung open, almost hitting him, and a man he did not recognize stepped between them. Confusion overwhelmed him as the verdant grass abruptly transformed into cement, the clear, ice blue sky became ghostly in color, and the trees on the horizon gave rise to buildings. Naruto disappeared behind the man with the sickly complexion and the dyed blue hair. Sasuke's eyes frantically darted over every inch of his strange, new surroundings; a short distance away, he noticed a red-haired young man watching him warily. When his eyes inevitably returned to the unfamiliar man in front of him, he was met with a gruesome smile that revealed a mouth full of unnaturally sharp teeth. Suddenly, Sasuke sensed someone coming up behind him quickly. He turned around to see Naruto approaching him; for a second he perceived that same foul smile in the background, but then Naruto grabbed him roughly and ushered him away, tearing his eyes away from the ever-grinning face. _What the hell are you doing? Sasuke barked. Nothing, Naruto laughed._

Everything came crashing down on him at once. And once more, he forgot everything, Naruto, Gaara—but not the man, and never Itachi. The stranger no longer stood before him, but he promptly spotted him turning a corner further down the road. Sasuke turned toward him, and he ran.

* * *

A/N: I know a lot of that stuff toward the end may come off as vague, but if you skim the first scene of chapter 22 it should make sense. I also know that I should probably offer an explanation or an apology for my absence of over a year...school was most of the reason for me not updating, it dominates my life, but then again it's the middle of finals week for me right now and somehow I just posted a chapter...so no excuses me, bad llama! So yes, my sincerest apologies. I have spring break next week, so I will try to write the next chapter within the next two weeks, but no promises! hahah.

So you noticed that the last scene is unusually written from Gaara's persepctive, huh? Bout time! I kind of had to find him as I wrote him, so it was somewhat challenging. You might have noticed that my Gaara is not as collected and kind as Kishimoto's Gaara, so forgive me if he might seem out of character. He's not quite there yet in terms of maturation in this universe. It was really fun to write him though! I should have done it more often...

That is all. Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think! :D


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